Daily Archives: December 8, 2011

Dec8

Lead Hair Experiment: Jackie

Posted on by
Standard

Meet Jackie, the other volunteer for our Chicoro lead hair experiment! This is her starting point submission of 9/18! She’ll update us with her progress in January 2012. But for now, let’s learn a little about her, her regimen, her current state and her goals!

*************************************************************************************************************************

Hi, my name is Jackie. I am a graduate student and I’ve been natural(no relaxer) since 14, however I would blow dry and flat iron my hair to within an inch of its life. As of January 2011, I have been a healthy natural, no blow dryers or flatirons since then. Today was the first time in nine months that I’ve used a flat iron. My goal is to have bra strap length hair. I have recently started to do protective styles to help retain length. If any ladies have any helpful tips to maintain length, I would love to hear them!

I have attached he intial pics of my hair that I took today (9/18/11). I got a trim to even out my hair and get rid of some split ends. You can see the thinning edges of my hair on the t-shirt.

My Regimen:

Daily:

  • Usually re-twist  my hair each night with water and EVCO.
  • Detangle every other night with my fingers.
  • Wear updos as a form of protective styling.
  • Cover head each night in my silk bonnet or use my satin pillowcase.

Weekly:

  • Co-wash approximately 4 time a week with either Suave Tropical Coconut or Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition (I go to the gym very frequently, so I use conditioner to wash my hair afterwards).
  • Deep condition twice a week. I alternate between a regular conditioner and a protein rich conditioner (Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition or Queen Helene Cholesterol with Ginsing DC both with EVOO, honey, and EVAO.) I don’t use a heat source I usually put a hat over the plastic cap and wear it for an hour or more depending on my mood/schedule.
  • Apply leave-in (I have yet to find an amazing leave-in, so I sometime use my conditioner as a leave in if my hair is feeling dry).
  • Seal with EVCO, shea butter and/or EVOO

Monthly:

  • Pre-poo with a mix of equal parts honey, EVCO and EVOO for about 30-60 min.
  • Shampoo once every 4-6 weeks with Burt’s Bee’s Baby Shampoo.
  • Detangle using Denman D3 Brush.
  • Henna

Supplements (daily):

  • Women’s multi-vitamin
  • Biotin-5000 mcg

*************************************************************************************************************************

Check out Jackie on her blog, Engineering Natural Beauty, to see how she is progressing and learn about modifications that she’s made to her regimen since September!

Advertisement
Dec8

Afro Twists Cinnabun & Tube Dresses at Work

Posted on by
Standard

Told you that I’m loving the versatility of these twists:)! So, this was my look on Wednesday. I gathered my hair into a crown level ponytail using a Goody Ouchless elastic. As the twists are so thick, I didn’t wrap it at all. I started at the top middle of my hair and gathered a section of twists (maybe about 16-20?) and twisted them together. Next, I pin-curled the big twist with a hair pin. Then, I repeated the process all around the perimeter, leaving some twists in the middle section so that I could also form big pin-curl to fill out the twisted “cinnabun.” Finally, I adorned with the same red flower hair clips I used the prior day. The whole style took about 8 minutes to do. I didn’t have to use an excessive amount of hair or bobby pins and the hair is so light, it didn’t give me a headache or make my head feel heavy like I’ve experienced with braided extensions in the past.

Here are additional pics of the completed style.

I plan on doing a video tutorial for this one soon, if it seems like you guys are interested. So, let me know!

Okay, now onto my fashion tip of the week: wearing tube dresses at work. I picked up this red pocketed tube dress by Express at Marshall’s a couple of years ago for $16.99. I never got around to wearing it, but decided to pull it out today for work. A tube dress at work?!?!  Yes! There are a few very easy ways to wear a tube dress in a professional environment.

  • Wear a straight tube skirt as a long skirt, paired with a complimentary top.
  • Disguise with a cardigan (short or long), cardigan set or blazer.
  • For a more edgy but still put together look, layer over a button down shirt or a turtleneck and cinch the waist with a wide belt.

Found another illustration of this combo on Polyvore! I swear that I didn’t see this first! *lol*

*************************************************************************************************************************

Have you worn a tube dress to work? If not, would/could you? How do you make it office-worthy?