Tag Archives: natural hair styles

Sep7

Damage Control: Frizzy Hair

Posted on by
Standard

frizz4

In the last week or so, I’ve been asked a couple of times about products that I use to control frizz. To be honest, I’ve yet to find any “miracle” product that prevents my porous hair from frizzing when there is any significant humidity in the air … and I’ve tried a few!! Frizz and “swoll” hair are things that I’ve lived with my entire life. Shoot, frizz control was the reason I wanted a relaxer in the first place!! My hair would get so big and “cloud” like in humidity. I would see the other girls with their relaxed, flat, bone straight hair and that’s what I wanted. But, even when I finally got a relaxer at 13 (thanks mom for making us wait), my hair was like, “Girl, whatever.” So, in high school, I inevitably ended up in a French braid or ponytail. LOL! So, yeah, it’s just a fact of life.

Nowadays, I try to follow the “Moisture Rules” that say that well-moisturized hair will be less prone to absorb atmospheric humidity (for more on that, check out these posts on CurlyNikki.com: Curly Hair Tips for Spring & Summer Humidity and Maintaining Natural Hair in Humidity).

So, in general, these are the things that I incorporate into my regimen regularly to combat frizz:

  • Pre-poo with Vatika Oil or virgin coconut oil (penetrates into the cortex hair to help it retain moisture).
  • Incorporate a light protein treatment weekly (Aubrey GPB Conditioner or Joico K-Pak Revitaluxe) (helps fill in “chips” in the hair cuticle).
  • Deep condition weekly after every wash (penetrates surface of hair to moisturize it from within).
  • Rinse conditioners/deep conditioners with cool/cold water (“closes” the cuticle).
  • Henna every 4-8 weeks (functions like a “heavy” protein treatment by bonding to the keratin in hair to fill in “chips” in the cuticle).
  • Apply a leave-in conditioner weekly (moisturizer).
  • Use a gel to style (LOVING aloe vera gel right now, but also use Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel and ORS Lock & Twist gel with success) (seals the hair).
  • Seal the last few inches of hair with an oil like JBCO mixed with EVOO (keeps more moisture in hair and reduces the amount of moisture absorbed from outside air).
  • Wait for fall/winter. LOL!!! (Though I am a summer lover forever, lack of humidity is one of the very few things that make me look forward to cooler weather ;)).

But, to tell you the truth, frizz really doesn’t bother me much anymore. I LOVE big hair now and always wish my hair was bigger. The thing is, it’d be nice if I could have it big with some definition that lasted more than 2 hours. Also, I’d like it to be big UPWARDS instead of flat on the top and big at the bottom. LOL! But, so is life.

Anywho, the reason I started telling you guys all of this was just to share this little styling “trick” that I did to minimize the appearance of frizz. You see, the top layer of my hair is the most prone to frizz (I guess because that’s the area most exposed). But, when I lift that top layer, the under-layers of my hair still look great! Well, last week, I wore braids for a couple of days and then removed them for a braid-out. Within hours, the top of my hair frizzed entirely. So, at lunch time, I braided the front frizzy parts and secured them at the back of my head with a bobby pin. And, I was good to go!

avg_braidout_x2Easy, breezey, lemon squeezey!

Simple, effective, and Boho chic too ;)! You could also just twist or twirl the sides! Anywho, that’s it. Just wanted to share this quick styling tip for doing some frizz damage control!

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

What do you do to fight frizz? Have you found an effective product/product combo and/or styling trick? Sharing is caring!!

Advertisement
Mar18

Weekend Hair: Hair Rehab and Recovery

Posted on by
Standard

photo 1-5

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!!

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

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?

Sep7

Dry Bantu Knot Out

Posted on by
Standard

I'm a little messy from j'ouvert, but look at my hair!

by Rece of A Hair Story

I’ve been meaning to try Bantu Knots for a long time. I just knew that if I did them, my hair would never dry. Recently, I saw a pic of my friend and her hair looked fabulous. I asked her what she did to her hair and she told me that she dries it some, then two strand twists it, then Bantu Knots it. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to do Bantu knots on dry hair, but I decided to try it last night.

I twisted my hair with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Curls – Creme Brule. I did a bunch of Bantu Knots. I wasn’t sure how big or small I should do them. I tend to do my twists smaller than most people because I feel like my hair gets too frizzy when I do bigger twists and have to separate them. I like good definition in my styles. In any case, I did my Bantu Knots slightly bigger than the sections I usually use. It was pretty quick and easy. I had to use a bobby pin to for about three of the twists because the ends just weren’t staying tucked in.

Here are the two strand twists in Bantu Knots…

20110904-021052.jpg

20110904-021110.jpg

This morning I unravelled and untwisted and this is what I got. Unfluffed.

20110904-021715.jpg

…and the final outcome. Usually when you see me with a headband in the front, that means something went wrong with the part that falls in my face. LOL

20110904-021805.jpg

I think it came out pretty good. I’m not sure what I expected, but I like that the ends are all curled. A lot of times, I end up with straight ends when I do a twistout.

XOXO,
Rece

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

Love it Rece!! I definitely have been hesitant about Bantu Knots because of the drying issue as well! I might have to give the dry knot-out a try! 

Have you tried Bantu Knot Outs? Wet or dry? What products do you use?