Category Archives: My Regimen

A little about where I’ve been and where I am now.

May18

Coconut Milk Pre-Poo

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coconut_milk

A couple of weeks ago, I was fudging around on YouTube and came across this two part series on using coconut milk as a hair treatment. I was immediately intrigued for two reasons. First, I love me some coconut oil! DON’T NOBODY better say nothin’ bad about COCONUT OIL. ‘Cuz that’s when Bonita goes OFF!! *teehee* Second, the YouTuber’s hair is RIDIC!! I mean, long as all get out and so healthy looking without a broken strand visible to the naked eye (whereas I have a ton from a rough, dry winter :( )!! Now, I know her hair is not curly, kinky, or coily. However, I have always believed that we can learn things from a variety of sources and different textures/ethnicities as so many of the practices that promote healthy hair are the same, regardless of race/texture/hair type (i.e. moisture, protein, protection). And, given the benefits of coconut oil (did you see this recent article on CurlyNikki about the amazing penetrating capabilities of coconut oil?!?!?) and how great it works for me, I figured coconut milk (which has coconut oil in it) might be just as awesome.

via BeautyKLove

Part I: Extracting Coconut Milk

Part II: Applying Coconut Milk

Now, though I love the IDEA of using fresh coconut milk, #aintnobodygottimeforthat.  *LOL* So, I broke out  a can of coconut milk that I had in the cabinet. I had picked up a couple of cans a long time ago for a post-wash avocado/coconut milk/honey DC that didn’t work out too well (made my hair hard). But, I was ready to give this new use of it a go! However, first, I decided to research a little more to see if I could find naturals who had used coconut milk with success. And, I just so happened to come across these posts by my virtual curlfriend, Petra/Emily CottonTop: Coconut Milk Deep Condition and Results – Coconut Milk Pre-Poo.  In these posts, Petra shares a pre-poo recipe:

The recipe
Coconut Milk  – 4 tablespoons
Honey -2 tablespoon
3 of Your Favorite oils – 1 tablespoon each

… and her awesome results. I was sold!

So, I whipped up a batch of coconut-milk with Vatika Oil and EVOO, using only two tablespoons of oil instead of three. I heated the mix and applied to my dry dirty hair. Then I donned a plastic cap and my thermal heat turban for about an hour. I will say that the application process was messy and a bit sticky. But, my wash process went very smoothly and my hair felt stronger, moisturized and my twists were so plump, juicy and shiny!

Coconut milk from the can.
Dried twists.
Dried Twists
Work-out hair.
Work hair for Mon-Thursday.
Day 5 hair: twist-out.

So, this past weekend, I made a coconut milk pre-poo again with the leftovers from the prior week. This time, I added some Aubrey Honeysuckle Rose conditioner (I was hoping that it would thicken the mix, but it didn’t really) and applied and massaged plain, warmed coconut milk into my scalp too. Though the application process was still a little messy (I think I’ll use a small dye applicator bottle in the future), I had great results again. So, I’m really thinking this will become a staple in my regimen!! I will keep an eye on my hair to make certain that the coconut milk doesn’t begin to make it feel hard or brittle (due to the protein content). If it does, I will reduce the frequency of the treatment.

Finally, I don’t use much coconut milk for the treatment and it only keeps in the fridge for about two weeks it seems. So, I was worried about spoilage and wasting it. Fortunately for me, I discovered that it can be frozen into ice cubes to form convenient “serving sizes” for future use!!!

coconutmilkicecubes

So yeah, all engines are a go!! Coconut milk pre-poo treatments are my new boo!! Time will tell if it results in strands as long, seemingly perfectly uniform in length, and unbroken as that YouTuber!! One can only hope ;) !!

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Do you use coconut milk in your regimen? If so, what’s your recipe and process? How often do you use it? What benefits to you see from using it?

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Apr9

Hair of (Last) Week: A Twist-Out to Remember

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Easter4

Yeah, I know this is overdue *hangs head*. Okay, it’s after 1 am right now. I fell asleep on the couch. AGAIN. And woke up at almost midnight. Usually I would just get in bed … but I felt bad for being so delinquent about blogging that I’m staying up to write this recap quickly!!

PRE pre-poo. *lol*

PRE pre-poo. *lol*

The Saturday before last, wash day went down as follows:

  • Pre-poo with Vatika Oil (1 hour).
  • Shampooed with an oldie but goodie, DevaCare No Poo (diluted in water).
  • Detangled/conditioned with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.
  • Deep conditioned with Darcy’s Botanical Pumpkin Seed Conditioner (1 hour w/heat).
  • Blotted hair damp with Curl Cloth.
  • Styled hair into 8 twists with Wonder Curl Butter Than Love Whipped on length and Get Set Jelly to control frizz and fly aways at roots.
  • Released twists while hair was still slightly damp (because I had the Wonder Curl Launch Party to attend) to fully air dry.

Okay, so I didn’t take any solo photos of my hair on that first day. But, Rece (A Hair Story) got a good one of the results, I think! LOL!!

Running my mouth as usual ;).

Running my mouth as usual ;) . And yeah, I know. I still owe you guys that recap ;) !

The first pic above was Day 2 hair after re-twisting the night before. And here is day 4 hair (I was re-twisting nightly initially):

twistout_day4_040213

And Day 8 hair (on Day 4, I started bunning at night as daily re-twisting puts too much stress on my fine strands and resulted in more breakage than I like to see):

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Oh, and here was the bun (and OOTD ;) ) I wore the Friday before Day 8:

OOTD_bohemian

Spring was finally in the air!!

My hair held up so well on over the course of the week (not overly tangled or stinky ;) ), that I didn’t wash it this past weekend! Instead, I experimented with a dry twist out and a new product that I picked up at Tarjay over the weekend!!

Cantutwistout_day1

For those of you who follow me on Facebook and Instagram, you already know what it was ;) . The rest of you will have to check me out on one of those outlets or stay tuned for the next post, which will reveal the “mystery” product that gave me the results above!

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So, here’s a question. I found that re-twisting nightly put too much strain on my hair, but left it looking great. So, I’m wondering:

Do you re-twist or re-braid nightly to preserve a style? If so, how would you describe your hair in terms of strand thickness (fine, medium, thick)? And, how does your hair fare with this technique?

Mar18

Weekend Hair: Hair Rehab and Recovery

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I’ve been keeping it pretty simple with hair lately. As you know, given daily morning work-outs, I’ve been wearing my hair in a bun. Well, between the henna/indigo residue from the prior week, the sweat from exercising and the “containment” of the bun … my hair was smelling all kinds of funky by Saturday morning!! Pee-you!! LOL!

Anywho, after my morning kettlebell work-out, I hopped in the shower … no pre-poo, no twists, no nothing, and got to work.

Wash Day Routine (Saturday)

  • Shampooed with diluted Shea Moisture Raw Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo (I have to say, I don’t feel like this gets my scalp/hair really clean. After working up quite a lather and rinsing, my hair still had a henna smell to it. So, I had to repeat.). Rinsed.
  • Finger detangled with diluted Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (went great again). Rinsed.
  • Massaged scalp with a mix of JBCO and jojoba oil.
  • Deep conditioned with a mix of Jessicurl Weekly Deep Treatment (ran out) and MyHoneyChild Olive You DC with honey, VCO, EVOO and JBCO (approx. 30 min. w/heat turban and 1 hour with no heat – because I had to run out).
  • Cooled and sealed with Aubrey Green Tea Cream Rinse and rinsed with cold water.
  • Applied modified Kimmaytube leave-in (1 tbsp Kinky Curly Knot Today; 1 tbsp Aloe Vera Juice; 1/2 tsp JBCO; 1/2 tsp EVOO; 1/2 tsp jojoba oil).
  • Twisted hair into 8 chunky twists.
  • Applied a mix of Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel and shea butter to roots.
  • Tied hair down with a scarf.
  • Removed scarf and released twists while my hair was still a bit damp.
  • Allowed hair to air dry without disturbing too much.
  • Fluffed hair once fully air dried.
All ready except the wet hair.
Released, but still very damp.
Air dried, side-parted and fluffy.

♦

Re-Style to Stretch (Sunday)

Working section by section for 12 sections – three in each quadrant:

  • Applied coconut oil whip to length of hair.
  • Applied Eco Styler Olive Oil gel to roots.
  • Braided length of hair.
  • Dampened hands with water and ran down length of braids to lightly wet.
  • Set the ends of top two twists on both sides of my head with grey perm rods.
  • Released after about 2 hours and fluffed.
Dry braid-out with Eco Styler Olive Oil gel at the roots and coconut oil whip to length.

♦

And, of course … I’ll be going back to the bun for the week ;) .

Too bad it won't look this nice today!!

Too bad that it won’t look this nice today!!

My hair seems to be recuperating nicely now. For a minute there, it was not looking good. The kimmaytube leave-in, stretching my hair and keeping it bunned have definitely improved my sitch-ee-ay-shun!! So, I’ll be sticking with that routine for the forseeable future. I’m hoping that it’ll help me see some nice length retention too!!

Alright, lata gatas!!

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Have you had to initiate Hair Rehab this winter? If so, what have you been doing to get your hair into recovery and back on point?

Mar11

28 Day Fitness Challenge: Days 15-21

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c25K_workMy hair fell out of the bun. I can’t stand my hair
down when I’m exercising.

Still going strong!! I’m very happy to have week three of my 28 Day Fitness Challenge under my belt. I’m down 6 pounds now, which is an average of 2 pounds a week. This is great for me as I usually don’t see the scale move much my first month of exercising and getting my diet back on track. I’m not feeling tired like I was the last time I did this challenge and I think that has a lot to do with morning work-outs … and getting in bed by 11 pm (sleep is sooo important). So I don’t foresee any problems taking it all the way to the end this time! Yea!!

And, here are Days 15-21 in pictures!!

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On a diet note … despite encountering these for $0.99 at the register of Panera on Friday night …

Panera_RedVelvetCookies

Red Velvet COOKIES?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!

I walked out with this, as planned …

DELISH!!

Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. DELISH!!

A little trick I use to take the calorie count down on this salad is request the half-size salad portions of the nuts, cheese and dressing. By doing this, I shave 165 calories off of the salad, taking it from 550 to 385. All the flavor for 2/3 the calories!! WIN!! Oh, but I earned a free bakery treat the next time I go to Panera … so, I can’t make any promises that I won’t walk out with one of those cookies the next time …

And to wrap this up, on a hair note, I washed the mop and FINALLY did a two step henna/indigo this weekend!! I actually did a full head, full strength henna treatment, which I haven’t done in over a year. So happy to be done with that as my roots were looking CUH-RAZY!!

hennatime3

Sorry, no after pics yet. I set my hair in braids on Saturday night and released them late on Sunday to bun it. My wash day went down almost exactly the same as the last one, which I ran down here, except I did the henna/indigo treatment after shampooing/detangling and set my hair in braids instead of twists. Other than that, the steps and products were the same with one other exception that I think made a HUGE difference in my detangling session this weekend. It was a BREEZE and I was so ecstatic! I’ll be sharing what I did differently with you guys very soon in a post about detangling techniques. So, stay tuned for that ;) !!

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I’m starting C25K Week 3 this morning!! How did my 28 Day Fitness Challenge ladies doing or any of you who are working towards health & fitness goals?

Mar4

28 Day Fitness Challenge: Days 8-14

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Hair

Alright, I know this is a hair blog, so I’ll open this with a little hair update. LOL!! I’ve been doing the least as my priority right now is getting my body/health back in order … hair is secondary. But, it still has its needs ;) . So, last weekend, I did the following:

  • Pre-pooed with Vatika Oil mixed with Aubrey Honeysuckle Rose conditioner overnight.
  • Shampooed with diluted Shea Moisture Raw Shea Moisture Retention shampoo.
  • Conditioned and finger detangled with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (HE HH) and rinsed.
  • Deep conditioned with Jessicurl Weekly Deep Treatment with added EVOO, JBCO and VCO.
  • Cooled and sealed with diluted HE HH.
  • Applied a modified kimmaytube leave-in conditioner (2 tbsp KCKT, 2 tbsp AVJ, 2 tsp JBCO/EVOO).
  • Set my hair in 8 twists (I think … I’m going off memory at this point).

On Monday, I wore my twists up and on Tuesday night, I removed them to stretch my hair further by placing it into 6 braids. Tuesday, I wore my hair in a low bun. On Wednesday, I placed it in a mid-height bun using a banana clip made two big twists, and wrapped and pinned them around the banana clip. I wore my hair like that through this past Sunday, re-setting it twice.

twistedbun5twistedbun1twistedbun4

It stayed well-moisturized, which was a relief. My ends in the back crown had been feeling rough and dry lately, so this was a welcome result. I’m definitely back to the kimmaytube leave-in and protective styling … oh yeah, I was supposed to be extending that bun challenge to right about now, wasn’t I?!?! LOL!! Well, it continues.

Oh, and I didn’t wash it this weekend … had the henna thawed for the second time in two weeks … but, just wasn’t feeling like dealing with an all day hair event and didn’t even feel like washing it period. I will definitely have to do something this weekend … henna may not make the cut again however, even though it’s sorely needed. But, for now, I put it in four braids after henna and it’ll be in another bun for the week … maybe even the same one! I should try to be more creative though, shouldn’t I? *shrugs*

Health & Fitness

Okay, now to my real focus for the week :) . I’m at the halfway point of my personal 28 Day Fitness Challenge!!! I’ve lost 5-5.5 lbs since starting 2 weeks ago and I’m feeling better and motivated. Morning work-outs are definitely a necessity for me right now as I am so burned out after work. I know that although I might start the day with the best intentions, at the pace I’m going right now, there is no way I’d have the energy or motivation to get it done after work. It also feels really good to be done exercising shortly after starting my day. The one thing that sucks is that I can’t workout longer when I’m feeling good as I have to get to work. Right now I’m getting up at 5:30 a.m. to give myself 30 minutes to get my cup of coffee in and wake-up. But, I always end up taking 45 minutes to get it together. So, I may need to get up a little bit earlier if I want to get a little extra in.

Anywho, here is how week 2 went down (click on pics to enlarge and read captions). If you follow Hairscapades on Instagram or Facebook, you can skip this part as you’ve seen these already ;) .

Day 8: C25K treadmill Week 1/Day 1: Walk intervals at 3.8 mph; jog at 5.0, except I did the last at 6.0 mph.
Day 9: 12 minute Lauren Brooks Full Body Blast Kettlebell workout. I L❤VE that this is done barefoot!! Feels like it improves my natural stability! Also L❤VE my Bob Harper contour kettlebell. The normal spherical ones can be awkward during certain exercises and hit hard during cleans. The contoured bell cradles the arm when it’s held or lands.
Day 10: Week 1/Day 2 of C25K
Knew I couldn’t get her 40 minute routine in, but needed more than the 12 minutes, so did it twice! The push-ups, burpees and mountain climbers are the killers though!!
Day 12: C25K Week 1/Day 3. I increased my speed to 5.5 for 6 run intervals and 6.0 for last 2 run intervals. You’re actually supposed to run at an easy pace for yourself, but I like to do sprints to work on building up my speed.
Day 13: Angie Miller Kettlebell Bootcamp (approx. 45-50 min total) with a 15 lb bell and 10 lb for some of the shoulder and abs exercises. This kicked my butt.
Day 14: Hot yoga (Vinyasa Flow). Not my best practice. I was sore from Kettlebell and had to take ibuprofen because my left shoulder/chest was hurting. But, yoga helped stretch and work it out. (p.s. I’m loving this new hoodie that I picked up from Marshall’s on Saturday!!)

Okay, that was the fitness, this is the health. For me, weight loss has always required both exercise and a good diet. They work hand-in-hand and I think contribute equally to allowing me to reach my goals. This is because mentally they are tied together for me. If I’m not eating well, I don’t exercise … if I don’t exercise, I don’t eat well. So, I’ve definitely been focused on making certain that I eat breakfast every day, bring a healthy lunch and snacks to work and eat a balanced dinner. I’ve also been drinking a protein shake and taking my vitamins with my cereal post my morning work-out.

Top left: Nectar Strawberry Mousse protein (this is really good stuff! Mixes easily and tastes great!); Bottom left: My supplements; Right: My daily fortitude (Dole frozen blueberries are delish!).
My baby food snacks. Aren’t they so colorful?! These are new brands I’m trying.
I ate BRUSSEL SPROUTS!! Check out my FB page or IG to see why this is HUGE!!

The thing is, because my body has gotten used to more calories, I’m hungry, so I’ve incorporated a few snacks that I’ll eventually wean out.

snacks1snacks2

The Bakery on Main Gluten Free Granola is to die for!! OMGosh, this stuff is so good … and so easy to overeat with a serving being only 1/3 of a cup (140 calories/6-7 g of fat). The Cranberry Orange Cashew tastes like crunchy nuggets of Fruity Pebbles!! Ooooooh weeeeeh!! But, I’m trying to keep it together … I wasn’t even planning on buying anymore of this stuff … until I saw it in the line of Marshall’s for $1 less than it cost me in Shop-rite! DANG!! Oh, and the dry roasted edamame is about the same calories, but with a lot more fiber. Also, it’s not so sweet and delicious, so it’s easier to control my serving size. That’ll be my longer term snack as it doesn’t set off my sugar/carb addiction!

Blueberry, Banana, Strawberry Mousse Protein Smoothie

And finally, I want to start incorporating some smoothies, especially green ones, into my diet. I don’t think I’ll do them daily, but I can at least make time to mix some up a couple of days a week. This Sunday, I made a nice strawberry, banana, blueberry protein smoothie to power me up for hot yoga and it was awesome!!

proteinsmoothie

8 oz. almond milk (40 cals)
8 oz. water
1 scoop Nectar Strawberry Mousse protein powder (100 cals)
1 banana (105 cals)
1 c. frozen Dole blueberries (70 cals)
1 tbsp whole flaxseeds (47 cals)
2 ice cubes
Total: 362 calories

I debated throwing some frozen spinach into the mix, but didn’t want to take the chance that it would make it nasty. But, I’ll give it a try on a smaller batch on another day. In fact, this was a LOT of smoothie, more than 2 large cup fulls. So, I can definitely half the recipe and save some calories! I need to hit the grocery store (should have done that yesterday) to get some fruit and veggies with which to experiment. I’m going with frozen as much as possible as I like the convenience and shelf life. More importantly, I’ve also read that frozen fruits and veggies tend to retain more nutrients as they are picked and frozen at the peak of ripeness, whereas fresh fruits and veggies are picked early to allow them to make it from farm to shelf without spoiling.

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Alright, I’m starting C25K Week 2 this morning!! How did my 28 Day Fitness Challenge ladies do this week? What day are you on? Are you feeling better? Seeing any changes?

Feb27

Dry TnC with Small Perm Rods

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I was going to call this, “Curly ‘Fro: Take Two” (see “take one” here). However, this time it reeeeeally looked nothing like a ‘fro and turned out very similar to my old Twist n’ Curl (TnC) … so, yeah.

Anywho, as you know, last week I attended the CurlyNikki Curl Power Event. I decided that I wanted to try a hybrid of the MahoganyCurls and PGneiicey methods of creating a curly ‘fro.

I hit Sally’s on Tuesday night for more perm rods. My intent originally was to get more grey rods as I thought that I might not have enough. Instead, when I got to Sally’s, I saw the slightly larger pink ones and decided to get those as I wanted bigger hair than I achieved the last time. And, get this, the perm rods were on sale 2 for $3!!!!

CF_permrodsThe rods on the right are shorter, although the labeling is no different.
I got the shorter ones for my front as they only had 3 bags of the longer rods.

Once I got home, I got to work:

  • Started with dry hair that had been in twists for a day and a twist-out for a day.
  • Finger detangled dry hair in about 10 sections with my coconut oil whip. Y’all … this part took FOREVER, mostly because of my nape area which has been knotting and tangling badly :( . Once I detangled each section, I twisted it.
  • Starting from the back and moving forward, I applied a dab of Shea Moisture Raw Shea Restorative Conditioner and a dab of Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel to a small sections.

SMandEco

  • Then, I twisted to about halfway down the length of my hair and set the whole length on a perm rod wrapped in end paper (the end paper prevents my hair from snagging and tearing out when the rods are removed).

All set and concerned ... "Please don't let me look like Soul Glo!!!"CF7CF10

  • I used a total of 28 rods, so only 2 1/3 bags of rods, to set my hair and it took THREE HOURS!! Ughhhh!!

As y’all know, as I was applying the product, my hair was looking soooo stringy. I had a flashback on CurlyNikki’s WnG experience with it. Remember that? If not, see here. F’reals … I was definitely afraid that I would end up looking like Randy Watson!!

randy-watson-sexual-chocolate-coming-to-america-thumb-473xauto-9693

Fortunately, all was right with the world when I removed the rollers and released the twists the next day :) . So, here is the tale in pics and the final results.

(Click pics to enlarge and read full captions.)

Dry hair prior to detangling.
You can see the texture difference in this shot.
The back.
Encountered several of these horrid tangles and knots.
After I finished dry detangling with my coconut oil whip.
All set and concerned … “Please don’t let me look like Soul Glo!!!”
Released from rods, but still twisted.
Another angle.
The back.
That face is one of RELIEF!! Untwisted but not separated further.
WHEW!!!

So, I was very pleased, even though my hair didn’t end up being as big as I would have liked. I was really surprised at how soft of a set the Eco Styler Olive Oil gel provided!! I’ll be trying this again, but on damp hair with the smaller grey rods. But I won’t be doing that for a minute as my hair really needs a break from being worn down. The cold winter and all this friction from rubbing against my coat and clothes has been doing a number on my nape and I ain’t got time for all of that.

Oh, and as to day 2 hair? Well, I twisted it into four big twists on Wednesday night, so those Shirley Temple like curls didn’t last long. I had bigger waves … but, you know, I was feeling it!!

green1green4

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Do you use Eco Styler Gel for styling? Which one is your favorite? How do you use them?

Feb18

Dry Braid n’ Curl with Coconut Oil Whip

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BO216_4

Seriously, a hair blog is the best diary! I’m not really consistent in the products that I use to style. I’ll just grab whatever is tickling my fancy at the moment. And, there are times when I remember getting great results from a product, but have no clue what I used! Enter Hairscapades the blog! LOL!! I am almost always able to find the picture and post with details of my styling and products to help me recreate the look as closely as possible. I mean, it’s rarely EXACTLY the same. But, I can get close.

Anywho, Wei and I had plans this weekend, which included a trip to a movie screening in NYC and meeting more of his family! So, you know I wanted to look nice. However, as we went out to dinner on Friday night to celebrate the anniversary of our engagement, I didn’t have time to wash my  hair (and I didn’t wash it all this weekend). Therefore, I decided a dry braid n’ curl (BnC) was in order and wanted to recreate the fluffy  look I had when I did my hair for the Katie Couric Show in Janaury (see it here).

So, I re-read Getting Ready: Hair√, Face√, Clothes√ and did essentially the same thing.

Dry BnC Set

  • Gently finger detangled hair with my coconut oil whip (I am LOVING this stuff!!);
  • Applied Wonder Curl Get Set Hair Jelly at the root of each section to smooth and set hair, then braided;
  • Set hair in 10 braids total (2 on each side in the front; 3 on each side in back);
  • Dampened each braid with water by wetting my hands and smoothing and squishing the water down the braids;
  • Applied Deva Curl Set It Free on the ends of each braid and set them on grey perm rods (I set about an inch or two of my ends to make certain they stayed curly as they tend to get flattened when I sleep);
  • Donned my Blensblend silk bonnet and hit the sack.

And these were the results on Saturday.

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Yeah, I definitely prefer BnCs over TnCs now. I just think they give me more uniform results. Also think my hair doesn’t tangle as much.

I think the flaxseed cream gel that I used on wash day was reactivated by the water and helped provide some nice hold and definition too!! One thing you may notice is my glaring grey roots. It’s really time for a henna treatment and I was hoping to do one on Sunday, but it didn’t happen. TouchBack Marker to the rescue!!

BO216_touchback

Let me tell you, that thing is really a great pinch hitter when I can’t henna!! The other great thing about it is that I’ve had it since last summer and it is still as effective as when I first purchased it. It hasn’t dried out and the color hasn’t faded! Love the longevity. Given the price, that was an important factor for me re-purchasing it in the future.

So yeah, I’ll definitely be using the marker to touch-up those greys for the CurlyNikki Curly NYC event on Wednesday!!  I think I might try something a little different and set it dry for a curly ‘fro a la Mahogany Curls!! (Time to hit Sally’s as I don’t think I have enough perm rods! I also want to see if “my” Sofn’Free Nothing But Mold and Hold Wax is on the shelves yet!!)

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Anyone else going to the CurlyNikki Curl Power event with Chrisette Michelle this Wednesday?! If so, what are you doing with your hair?! Hope to see some of you there!!

Feb13

Accidental Style and TnC Results

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As promised, here are the results from the twist out set I did on Wash Day Sunday. I turned out pretty well, though I did have to add some moisture to my ends as they were feeling a bit dry. And, let me tell you, I was NOT happy when I first released it because it looked so piecey, was not falling right, the tail was in full effect and the parting wasn’t working. My part was also to far back, so it looked totally flat on top.

IMG_7978Can you tell that I’m not happy?

But, after playing around with it a bit, changing the direction of the hair to go back from my face, it allowing it to settle, I got it to look satisfactory.

IMG_7986

The funny thing? This was after work and never saw the light of day. LOL!! I actually ended up wearing my twists to work again!! See, what had happened was … I twisted them up and secured with a hair fork in the morning in order to shower. When I took off my satin scarf and shower cap, I realized that the updo looked kind of cute! So, I decided to go to work with it as is!! Don’t you just love easy accidental styles?!?!?!

twistsupdo

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HAPPY HUMP DAY!!

Feb12

Not Much to See Here …

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So, yeah, we’ll keep it moving with a quick recap of wash day and today’s edition of unexciting hair. LOL!

Okay, here is the rundown of my wash day routine this past Sunday:

  • Finger detangled and pre-pooed with Vatika Oil. Applied a 50:50 mix of JBCO and jojoba oil to scalp.
  • Placed hair in 8 twists, covered with plastic cap and donned heat turban (1 hour).
  • Applied Aubrey GPB directly over Vatika Oil and donned plastic cap and heat turban again (30 min.).
  • Hopped in the shower and shampooed hair with Shea Moisture (SM) Raw Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo.
  • Didn’t feel like the SM shampoo removed the oil from my scalp sufficiently, so I shampooed again with iOn Curl Solutions Curl Defining Shampoo (I sometimes use this sulfate shampoo to clarify).
  • Conditioned/finger detangled with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (HE HH) and rinsed with cool/cold water.
  • Deep conditioned with Darcy’s Botanicals Pumpkin Seed Conditioner (1 hour with heat).
  • Cooled and sealed with diluted HE HH.
  • Blotted/squeezed hair damp with a curl cloth.

And here is where I tried something a little different with the flaxseed cream gel (FSCG) I made a couple of weeks ago! In the comments on my braid and curl with FSCG post from last week, CeeJay wrote:

I’ve been using homemade FSG since November of last year. It’s great because it provides hold without any stick/flaky buildup. I also use Kimmaytube leave-in conditioner (2 tbsp Organix Shea Butter conditioner 2 tbsp. jojoba, 2 tbsp. JBCO, 2 tbsp. aloe vera juice). This week-end I ran out of my oils and had to go into the pantry for EVOO to make my latest batch. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the leave-in with EVOO provides really good moisture for these dry winters here in T.O. Then I decided to add some of the leave-in conditioner to my latest batch of FSG. MAGIC!!

Well, y’all know that I was “‘Bout it, bout it!!” Okay. Sorry. Anywho, I decided to mix a modified kimmaytube leave-in (1 tbsp KCKT, 1 tbsp AVJ, 1 tsp jojoba oil) with my FSCG (50:50 ratio) and apply that for a 12 twist TnC! Well, just like with the original cream gel formula, I think that my “moisture mix” is reducing the hold capacity of the gel. It still has some hold, but not a lot. When I woke up in the morning, my hair was dry, shiny, soft and springy!

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I liked the way that it looked and given that it was raining ice outside, decided to just leave my twists in and rock it to work.

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Ummm. Yeah. It looked better with the scarf and rollers!! Ah well, every one can’t be a winner ;) . I do think it looked better in person. But, it still was nothing to write home about (I did get three compliments at work though!). Anywho, I think I’ll release it today, but it’ll probably end up in a bun for work. In fact, it needs to as I didn’t bun much last week. But, I promise to take a few pics of the twist-out before putting it up :) .

And back to the FSCG/kimmaytube LI experiment, I can’t wait to try that again, but with more gel than leave-in! So, my next batch of FSG will probably be made this upcoming weekend! I really feel like I’m becoming a little mixtress … we’ll see how long that lasts … LOL!!

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Do you ever wear a “hair set” as a hairstyle? Which sets perform double duty for you?