So...I Big Chopped

As of November 23, 2010 your girl is officially natural. Yes, I finally ended my 18 month transition and I did it without losing my sanity in the process.

Ruff and tough with my afro puff

Twist and Curl

I heart my roots

Curlformer set

Curlform Fro

Dry Bantu

Bunnin'

So, what's new?

• I am now washing my hair biweekly, with dry styling as needed in between.
• I am using Karen's Body Beautiful products (review to come).
• I will not press my hair out until June 2011, which will be one year without heat.
• I have as much as 8 inches in some spots. My goal for the June press is 12. This will take me to just above apl.

I think that's about it. I missed you guys. Toots and I have to do better.

Better late than never- Curlformer Results

So, a long time ago..a reader asked Miss G if her curlformers would come out the same for someone who's all natural?  Miss G asked me to post a picture of what my hair looks like when I remove my curlformers since I have no (read: little or neglible) relaxer left.  I recently took my senegalese twists out and have since been back to styling my hair so of course I had to do one of my reliable curlformer sets.  Here are my results:

Before using the curlformers, I did a DC on dry hair using Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose for about 2 hrs and then I co-washed with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration.  (I love that stuff)  I used more of the HEHH as a leave-in (not a ton) and used Giovanni Natural Mousse to set.  I slept with them in overnight.  When I finally took these out, these were the results.  I hadn't done them in a while so I didn't know what to expect, but I was extremely pleased.  My hair was super soft and I think that was due to my 2 hr DC.  They lasted for about 3 days, but that's because I wanted to finally try out a dry bantu knot out.  (I'll post pics soon, I promise)  I'm sure I could've gotten at least another day or 2 out of them especially if I remixed by pinning up.  In summary, my love affair with curlformers continues and I believe that most anyone, from transitioning to completely natural can use them.

Happy Curlforming!

Weather Burn Out

So...I am boycotting washing my hair. I curlformed last week, and since I am getting pressed and trimmed this weekend, I was determined to make my hair last for two weeks. So by Tuesday night, I had already done two dry rod sets and wanted something new. I decided to do a dry bantu knot out. I was also out of Giovanni mousse and copped some DevaCurl Set It Free as a replacement.

It started post work out...

With this weather I can not keep a style. I woke up this morning with zero definition. So I did a phony pony. No thanks to Toots who was supposed to show me how...

I'm not used to my hair falling apart in a day or two. Help. Is anyone else having this issue?

Flat Twists

I know that I've been M.I.A. But I haven't really done anything to my hair. I wore the rod set for a month. Then I went back to my trusty braid out. So I finally tried something new this weekend. I had told myself that I could not flat twist since I can not cornrow. But I gave it a shot.
I did a cowash with Yes To Carrots, Then a DC with HSR and EVOO. I sprayed each section with Giovanni Leave-In and a pump of the Giovanni Mousse . I ended up with 10 twists which I let air dry over night.

I was afraid it would be a poofy mess, because it wasn't the neatest job in the world. I was wrong. I kinda love it.

My relaxed ends are terrible...

Red Rod Set

Remember when I posted the vid about the rod set a few weeks ago? Well I tried it.

Since I knew it would take forever to rod my hair, I cowashed the night before. I did a DC overnight. The next morning I rinsed out the DC and went to work.

2 hours and 80 rods later...

Day 1 (I did not attempt to pull them apart at all. I just rocked out)

Day 3 (slightly pulled)

Day 5 (Fully pulled apart)

Day 10 (yes, you read right)

I plan to keep the party going until my wash day on Sunday. So I actually maintained the style for two whole weeks. This is huge people. All I did was sleep in the satin bonnet. In the morning I would moisturize with jojoba or coconut oil. I would shake and pull on the curls to help them pop back out.

Miss Jessie's

I can not wait to be all natural so that I can try out the Curly Pudding...

Rod Set

This vid has me wanting to do a small rod set so badly...





This chick is pretty fab. Check her blog out here.

I might give it a go this weekend. Especially if it will last for two weeks!

I's Engaged Now...

I've been ghost here recently and I wanted to let you know that it's not without reason.  I got engaged on April 10, and I've been caught up in a whirlwind ever since.  We have set an aggressive timeline for the actual ceremony (October), so I have to get on the ball.  A million things ran through my mind when I was thinking about my big day, but as you can imagine, one of the first things I thought about was..my hair.  What style could I have that wouldn't require me to sell my soul to be fierce?  First thing I thought about was some type of curly updo.  I really like curls and think that this won't be too difficult to pull off.  When I searched the net however, I didn't really come up with much, but this:

  So what about a sleek look, simple but elegant.  This is what I found:

My gripe is this though: why when you search for updos or wedding hairstyles, all the ones featuring African-American women are hard or weave down the back?  Where is the creativity?  Can anyone hook me up with some other styling ideas?

Bantu'd

I tried a "dry" bantu last night. And today I have T.A.C. (tight ass curls).  I must admit, I do like the curl pattern that the knots create. But it took forever to dry. I didn't even start completely wet, so I can only imagine how long that takes. You probably need a few days where you do not have to leave the house to try this as a wet style.

This isn't really a how-to, because I'm lazy today. Hit up the comment section if you need details.

The back was still damp this morning, but I kept it moving. I hope they fall...if not, I'll do a half and half to stretch it out.

Hair-perimentations: Flat Twist Out

I have to be honest, I have not been feeling fierce these last couple of days.  I have been sick and rocking the same faux curly pony fro (i need to come up with a better name- it's just rodded hair pulled back with a stocking and gives the allusion of a big curly ponytail).  While bored at home and cruising the internet, catching up on my reader, I came across this video on CurlyNikki .  After watching I figured why not give it a try.  I was at home with nothing else to do, didn't feel like washing but knew I needed to do something for Friday. So I went to it. Here's what I did.

1. Took a section of hair that I would twist and combed through with my wide tooth comb.
2. Applied some shea butter to my ends.
3. Sprayed a generous amount of Giovanni Leave-In to the section.
4. Followed with a pump of Giovanni Mousse (loves this stuff, shine is undeniable)
5. Started to twist.  Refer to the video linked above for the method, but I did mine a bit tighter.
6. Applied a satin roller to the ends.
7. Repeated until I had about 6 twists. Looked a lil' something like this.  (I really need to work on my phototaking skills)

I tied down with a satin scarf and kept it moving for the rest of the day.  This morning after showering, I took each twist down being careful not to manipulate the curls too much so they wouldn't frizz.  I wasn't exactly pleased with the front (I never am), but instead of pinning back as usual, I decided to try something different.  I took a section of hair from each side and braided it back, braided the other side, then pinned them to the back together.  This is the end result.

I must say, I was a flat twist queen when I was relaxed, but hadn't really attempted since being natural.  I guess I figured it was too much work, but I must say it was pretty simple. It took no more than 20 minutes to twist and I hopefully it won't look a ham tomorrow.  When I do a braid out, it's easier for me to just rebraid at night.

Price of Beauty

In this article from Black Voices, the writer highlights 3 experiences and the difficulty she had with trying to get her natural hair done at an affordable price.  She refers to it as the Natural Hair Tax which basically means that often, those living the natural life often pay an arm and a leg for any hairstyle done professionally that doesn't require the hair to be cooked.

To be fair to the stylists, it does require additional effort and time to style natural hair.  If it takes them 3 hours to twist natural hair, why is it not expected that they will charge you at least 2x as much as a style that only takes them 1.5 hours? I've sat in the shop and had to wait for the natural girl to finish getting her hair twisted.  Though natural myself, I was still salty as I was in there to get my birthday press and sitting in the salon longer than anticipated was not conducive to my other birthday pampering plans.  Not only did that experience and extra 1.5 hours of my life that I can't get back  remind me of how I hate going to salons now, it made me realize that for any 'natural' style that doesn't require heat...I won't waste my time or money going to the salon.  I'm sure there will come a point in time where I will want to have someone else do all the work, but for now, I enjoy being a DIY-er.  May not always save me time, but it saves me $.  If I don't like it, I can switch it up the next day without worrying about how much money I'm wasting.

How much are you willing to spend to maintain your natural fierceness?  If you frequent a salon for natural styles, is it because you've tried and failed to create these styles yourself or is there another reason?

Half and Half

I had been wanting to achieve the half curly/half straight look that Joan does on Girlfriends. So in these last days of my press, I decided to give it a try.

Before

During

After

I am ok with the results. I am sure it will look better as it starts to fall.