Daily Archives: January 30, 2012

Jan30

“Protective Style”: Relative Term?

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by M of Hair and Other Stuff

Yesterday I had a conversation about twist outs with a friend who has natural hair. She expressed frustration about the fact that she loves the way twist outs look but they don’t last long and they require entirely too much hair manipulation. She has also noticed that she loses much more hair when styling a twist out than not. That got me thinking about my own relationship with twist outs and with protective/low manipulation styles. I read about this a while back on a blog post from Jamila of College Curlies: Are Protective Styles Damaging Your Hair? Dunno why it didn’t click with me then.

It occurred to me that twist outs and/or low manipulation styles are only protective for people who don’t have to retwist or manipulate often … duh! LOL. I have a theory that this has something to do with hair texture/elasticity or the springiness of one’s hair, if that makes sense. I have a friend with super springy hair who can rock a fabulous twist out from 5-7 days. That’s definitely not the case with me. My twist outs only look stellar on day one, if that. I’ve decided to revisit the wash and go ( WnG) and the puff.

If I remember correctly I experienced the most growth when I was wearing WnG’s and knew nothing about natural hair “rules”. I was using the Pantene Curls line conditioner as a leave- in and wetting my hair almost every day.

Now I’m certainly not going to be washing or wetting my hair every day this time around. I don’t know why I was just doing the most back then. *lol* I am also going to alternate between roller setting for a bun (to protect my ends) and the WnG Puff :-)! Wish me luck.

Do you find “protective” styles require too much manipulation for your hair? Weigh in!

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I’ve worn twists sporadically over the last couple of years and love the look … on others! LOL! I have the same problem as you M in that they tend to unravel pretty quickly and require re-twisting every few days. As I try to keep my daily manipulation low, twisting is not a regular protective styling option for me and that’s why I do a lot of simple updos. However, every now and again, I’ll want to experiment with twists again and try a new product to see if it’ll give me the hold to allow the style to last longer. Murray’s Loc and Lock gel does an okay job, but I doubt I’ll ever have twists that last two weeks without a lot of re-twisting.

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Jan30

Hairscapades Grow Out Challenge: Part Deux

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Hairscapades GOC – First Round (Final Updates Due):
It’s coming to an end ladies!! Can you believe it? Six months already! I’ll be looking for updates from you guys over the next couple of weeks! Regardless of whether you achieved your goal(s) or not, we’d love to hear from you! It’s not always about the end game. Most often, it’s about the journey. What have you learned about your hair and yourself over the course of the last six months? What have been your struggles? Your triumphs? This is a great time to help inspire others. So, if you’re still out there, even if you haven’t updated since your original submission, we’d love to read your story!

In regard to my goals, I’m still on a mission to achieve full thickness waist length (WL) hair. I didn’t do too great a job of maintaining my weight loss … I did some backsliding, as has been par for the course for years! But, I’ve been getting back on track with this 28 Day Work-Out Challenge. So, although this GOC is coming to an end, the work will continue! I expect that it will with many of you as well. So, that being said …

Hairscapades GOC – Second Round:
Do you have hair length, thickness or health goals? How about weight, fitness or diet goals? Stress reduction? Faith? Do you need something to hold you accountable and keep you motivated to achieve them? Did you participate in the first round of the Hairscapades Grow Out Challenge (GOC) that ends January 31st and want to keep going? Then join the Hairscapades GOC that will run for 6 months, from April 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012! Yeah, I know, April?!? But, I don’t have time to get submissions and post them to start in February given that I’ll be posting updates from Janaury. And … for real though? I need a little break! LOL! So, I figure I’ll do updates in February and then we’ll have March for you guys to get your submissions in to me and it’ll allow me time to post the participants prior to our start on April 1st.

If you are in the first round GOC and planning on participating in the second, please feel free to send in “unofficial” updates or guest posts over the next couple of months as I’d LOVE to know how you are all doing!

Check out the GOC home page for details on submissions and the general structure of the challenge.

H A P P Y    G R O W I N G ! ! ! !

Jan30

November-January GOC Update: Rece

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by Rece (Fifth Wave) of A Hair Story

Composing an update would have been a lot easier if I had just committed to updating regularly. Lesson learned.

Sooooooo … since October, my hair regimen hasn’t changed. I still wash with DevaCurl Low Poo (and Selsun Blue when my scalp is acting up), my conditioners vary, but I ALWAYS deep condition. That was a standard routine from when my hair was relaxed. Most times, I pre-poo’d with coconut oil. I continue to use Kinky Curly Knot Today as a leave in conditioner and I seal with my EVOO mix.

I’ve bunned most of November. I finally had a twistout right around Thanksgiving and it was cute (pic above). Around the holidays, I experimented with a few styles. I did a Twist & Curl on my fully natural hair. The last time I did one of these, my hair was half and half.

I’ve straightened my hair, which allowed me to discover that my ends were laden with single strand knots. Ugh! This prompted me to trim my ends… twice!

I’ve done mini two strand twists, and vowed to NEVER do them again because they take so long to do (I’m sure I’ll do them again soon though).

Two strand twists into an updo…

I’ve realized that my two strand twists curl like one of my original hair idols, Catrina. Seeing her in July 2011 prompted me to do my big chop.

…and instead of the traditional length check, here’s a comparison of my puff in August, compared to my puff in January. Way to go!!

Who knows what’s next on the list of things to try! I must say, my PJism has subsided.

XOXO,
Rece

Jan30

A Make-Up Haul: It’s HER Fault!

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I decided not to wash my hair this weekend as I didn’t exercise that much this week. If I’m sweating a lot, I’ll wash it weekly, if I’m not, they I’ll try to go two weeks. Now, the thing is, I did hot yoga on Sunday and plan on going again tonight. So, I expect a wash night may have to be in my immediate future.

So, what to do with the hair then? On Saturday, I broke out the ol’ trusty banana clip and put my hair into my “go to” style, a big, high bun. However, on Sunday, I decided I wanted to try a Chinese Bun, like the one below, but on my own hair.

I knew that it would be not be anywhere as big or fabulous as  the one I do with added braiding hair. However, I thought I might have gained enough length to wrap the braids securely around the hair stick and make a decent bun. And, ya know, it turned out okay!


With flash, so that you can see it a little better.

So, I’m going to try to leave it alone and in this bun for the next couple of days (I’ll remove the sticks and let the braids hang for bed at night). I’m really hoping that I can get away with not washing it until late in the week as I am planning on doing my first ever Two Step ApHogee treatment the next time I wash. Any advice on making the process less scary and as pleasant as possible? I hear the smell is ghastly, but I’m not sure if I want to mix it with another conditioner at this point. Anyone ever try adding an essential oil? I wonder if that might make the smell even worse?!? Anywho, I plan to shampoo with a diluted sulfate shampoo (my normal iOn Curls shampoo) to make certain that my hair is very clean of product build-up so that the protein can “stick.” I also plan to deep condition, post treatment, with Darcy Botanicals Pumpkin Seed Conditioner.

In other news, I’m blaming Sham I Am Glam for fanning the flames of my inner PJ in a different direction this week. Girl had me looking everywhere for a couple of Wet & Wild palettes as I LOVED the looks she created with them. I hit Harmon, CVS and finally where I knew that I should have started, K-Mart (which is right near my house), to find the Vanity and Lust eyeshadow palettes (far left and right respectively). Now Sham is a masterful eyeshadow artist. If you love make-up and haven’t checked her out, you should!. She does the most FABU eye looks. However, her brown smoky eye and  New Year’s Eve FOTD (Face of the Day … yeah, took me several weeks to figure that one out!) are the ones I want to try to replicate as they aren’t too far outside of my comfort zone.

You see, I barely wear make-up. When I do wear it, I tend to keep it pretty neutral with a bronzer for eyes and cheeks, groomed brows and lip gloss. If I’m feeling fancy or have a special event, I might add purple shadow, a little eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. Anywho, despite my bare minimum make-up ways (I’ve had the same Black Radiance bronzer for at least 8 years), why did I end up with a blush, another eyeshadow palette, two glosses and a lipstick too? Oh yeah, and last week, on a run to Harmon for medicine for Wei, I ended up with the NYX eyebrow powder/wax set (I’m showing off my handy-work in the pics above 😉 … I’ve always used a pencil, so this was different). So yeah, I got a whole bunch of make-up that I’ll probably have 10 years from now as I don’t wear it often! But, I’ll do a little experimenting in the next couple of weeks. If I don’t look like a clown, maybe I’ll even share my results with you guys:).

A closer look.

In regard to the glosses, I figured while I was in a make-up buying mood, I’d try to restock on a mocha colored NYC (New York Color) gloss that I got, like, forever ago. I love the way it looks sheer/clear, but actually has a hint of color that gives my lips a smooth, uniform tone (I’m wearing it in the Chinese Bun pics above). The tube is running precariously low, so this was a good time to look for it as I originally got it from a K-Mart. Alas, I did not find it there yesterday. But, I did pick up an NYC Lip Plumper in Toffee Kiss, a Lip Shine in Honey on the Hudson and a Maybelline COLORsensational lipstick in Bean There. I figured at least one of them would work. Well, surprise, surprise, I like them all! I took photos of the Toffee Kiss and Bean There. They are both barely-there color, but that’s the way I like it for my “day look.”

Maybelline Bean There

NYC Toffee Kiss (it tingles)

I know, there isn’t much of a difference, but that just means I don’t have to buy gloss or lipstick for a while now as I’m stocked for decades!! *lol*

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So, those were my weekend shennanigans. Who else had a PJ incident this past week(end)? What goodies did you get?