Back to Henna

So what have I (CFC) been up to? I haven't posted in nearly four weeks! Longtime readers know that there are patterns in terms of how often SP and I update. While we usually stagger our posts throughout the week, when there's only one of us doing most of the posts it usually means the other is putting in overtime in our work life - during fashion weeks SP is m.i.a and in my case when film festivals or major industry conferences (since I work in entertainment) come up, I'm swamped!

What has that meant for my hair? Nothing of note. I've played with my flatiron a couple of times; one time was going all out with blow-drying included while the last time was just a pass of the flatiron over hair that had been washed, conditioned and braided the night before which gave me a big wavy look:

My hair last week

I've noticed this weather has made my hair react all sorts of ways, and that I have more gray hair then I remember! Coupled with the fact that my ends were feeling a little stale I was looking forward to some gentle TLC for my hair. While packing over the weekend (I'm in the midst of moving) I came across a pack of henna that I recall buying over the summer. Since I knew damn well one box wouldn't be enough to cover my entire head, I opted to do a henna conditioning treatment (otherwise known as a henna gloss). This just means I add conditioner to my henna amongst other ingredients, and for those who experience severe dryness after henna or do not want too much color this is a great alternative to a regular henna treatment. I used Herbal Essence Hello Hydration and added about a tablespoon of raw honey. Since I did want some color, I let the henna sit over night and used red wine for dye release because I didn't have any green tea, which worked just as well. I was tempted to use apple cider vinegar instead, but I read that it really stinks up the mixture.



















I left the mix in my hair for about an hour or so, then rinsed it out with the help of a Suave Conditioner and wrapped my hair in a white t-shirt to dry. I have to say, my *naked* hair felt really good. My curls were really defined and felt silky smooth. I apologize for the crappy phone picture but I hope you can see what I mean

So that's that! I actually washed my hair again today just to be sure I got all the henna out of my hair, and it's now set in bantu-knots. I have a holiday party to attend tomorrow so I have to make sure my hair looks nice and big!

Pincurls: Preserving My Flatironed Natural Hair

That's right! This is probably going to be the last video of this week but here's for you all! Videos from me to you! I hope you all enjoy these videos and they are in some or any way helpful :) 

Love you followers! 

Natural Year 2: Blow out, Flat Iron, Length Check & Reflections

 I broke the videos down into 3 parts so it wouldn't be one super long video, but I guess I'll let the videos (or me) do all the talking for themselves :) ... but wait? Why is Debbie in the background tryna steal my shine? lol
 #pleaseexcusemycreepyoldcosmetologyschoolmannequinhead

Protective Style Fail: A Straight Weave

 I was really loving the look of this weave, but unfortunately it didn't last for me with all of the humidity that's been in NYC thanks to Hurricane Sandy.

I used to use this weave when my hair was relaxed and it matched my hair perfectly... it still does now if my hair is bone straight, but I've learned that I definitely need a weave that will plump up a little when my hair plumps up!

I did not want to have to keep adding heat to my hair so out it came, which is what led to the roller set I posted about yesterday (backwards, I know). I don't think I'll be straightening my hair again until the holidays or maybe even the New Year... until then, I think roller sets and twist outs pulled up into cute updo's is going to be the way to go for me. I'm looking to get another little job so I'm trying to make sure I have a  few go-to looks, which will definitely be including my banana clip!

I also found a YouTuber who's protective styling videos I've fallen in love with! She like me has low density, fine hair so a lot of her styles are very simple and elegant, focusing on making sure to not add too much tension to the hair, and creating styles that help create or give the illusion of fullness. I will definitely be posting and trying a few of her style videos, having to do minor tweaks because my hair is shorter, but I'm sure you all will love the styles!

I'm trying to protective style but i'm not winning here... maybe it really isn't for me... but I won't give up yet! Has protective styling failed for you in the past? What/who helped you?

Bantu Knot Out on Straightened SL Hair

 My straight hair was really doing nothing for me, and since I trimmed my hair I figured, why not try styling it? So I decided to take my second stab at bantu knots, first try on my straightened hair, and I really loved the outcome! Beautiful way to get heat free waves! This also kind of gave me the wavy bob look I was supposed to be going for with a weave.



I only used a little Jojoba oil and grapeseed oil to do the bantu knots and secured them with tiny rubber bands. I 'd say i wrapped them pretty tightly, doing my best to make sure the ends were wrapped around as well. I'm really loving the shape of my hair and I am starting to feel a little more patient about the growth process since I have a little more length to play with now... just a little, lol. I still can't wait for my hair to get longer, especially the front.

I had planned my halloween costume around that weave so now I need to figure out what I'm going to do about that... but I also know I want to go into another protective style some time soon.
After all the breakage I was experiencing, it has me really wanting to hide and protect my hair, helping me to trim less and retain more length for a little while too.

I can't afford the weave I really want right now (a long straight weave) and I'm scared of extension braids. They were kind of breaking my hair last time and my edges are so fine and fragile, that I'm afraid of putting anymore major tension on them.... hmm... Sets and Updo's then maybe?
Either way, loving this bantu knot out until further notice...

Have you done a bantu knot out on your straightened hair? Do you like it better on straightened hair or natural/curly hair?

Yet Another Tragedy Has Befallen My Head!!!

But thank goodness it wasn't that bad!!!
Uhg... another story... here goes...

So ever since the end of last week, the weave hair I had decided it didn't like me anymore... one of the reasons I resorted to a high bun the other day. The sad part is, I was actually loving this weave and was uber excited about the prospect of wearing this weave for at least a month and I was going to too! Everything was working in the beginning, I didn't need to add any heat, my hair was blending so easily and beautifully, my hair I left out all around worked for a ponytail/bun and was still flourishing... no reason to take it out except for the dreadlocks it started to form.

I usually never buy pack hair for reasons like this, but with it working so well for my cousin I really wanted to try it. She bought the 8" which was a little different, and didn't have any issues. I watched two reviews for this hair on YouTube, two on the opposite extreme of good and bad, so with the good review and the raves from my cousin, the good outweighed the bad so I purchased it, until the bad outweighed the good when I wore it. All in all it was beautiful and easy hair while it lasted, and I still plan to try the 8" when I have a chance...

On to the real tragedy:

Upon the take down of my weave, I accidentally cut off the last 2 inches of my braid!!!! WAAAA!!!!!!

I was totally flipping out! My original intention upon taking down the matted weave was to blow out my hair and do extension braids, but as soon as this incident happened, I wanted to straighten my hair to see what everything was really looking like.

 I felt a sense of relief that it happened in the very back of my head for sure, but I was also dreading having to cut the whole back of my hair off because it felt like a pretty huge chunk, and it kinda is... but since there's hair all around it, I can kinda camouflage it. It really sucks because my hair was finally getting longer, and with the fine, low density hair I have, I need every strand I can get! So now in about a 2" x 2"box in the back of my head, my hair is 2" to 3" shorter than the rest of my hair... but I'm hoping by some miracle, and a little shaping back there it'll catch up.

The hair that was cut just reaches the top of my shoulder

My hair that wasn't cut is about an inch or 2 past my
shoulder

You can see the difference in the two lengths side by side here

 So I guess these are a bit of an unofficial 2 year mark photos, even though I still have about 2 weeks to go. I do need to trim my ends, so maybe I'll just take an inch off in the back and dust every where else, just to start evening things up a bit and still stay within my goal to get rid of some layers and have a more blunt cut. Once I trim at the end of this month I'll do an official 2 year update with all the comparison pics and all that jazz, lol...until then... buns it is..

Have you gone through a hair crisis? What have you done to combat the issues?

I Too Summer Straightened!

I colored and straightened my hair literally a month ago for my birthday and I was super surprised with the amount of growth I had! I wore my hair up for the most part, french braided in the back... Originally I had no intentions of straightening, just to rollerset my hair, but then I got the itch to see what the color looked like with straight hair. I decided to keep my little color patch in the front and go with a reversed ombre look. I loove it!!  I can't wait until all  of these layers are grown out but it looks like the new year will be promising for that goal.

I'm not gonna lie, I havent been taking as best care of my hair as i'm supposed to lately, mostly because i've hardly been covering it to sleep and i haven't been doing twist outs... which for me = ssks -_-
But I have been deep conditioning and moisturizing like crazy, wearing wash and go's and buns mostly... yes I said buns!!!


I've been super busy and I'm running to class but i'll be back shortly with more hair and hair stories to come!

My Last Straightening Before Summer Concluded

Here is what my hair looks like straightened after being unwrapped, without having any real bump to it. These pictures may be kind of horrible, but they've been great with helping me track my progress.




As you can probably see, my left side is my faster growing side, and my right side is my fuller growing side, so my hair is a little asymmetrical but I'm okay with that for now. I've been growing out my layers a little before focusing on length, trimming more in the back and less in the front or I would have definitely had an afro mullet by now -___- Not happening. Seeing as how I "big chopped" twice, I would definitely say my goals were readjusted from growing length first, to shaping my hair first. I'm really looking forward to this summer coming and the length I can retain, since last year I dealt with a setback and basically had no summer retention, plus needed to trim a good 1/2 inch of split ends. This year I'm really on my game so nothing of the sort will be happening under my watch. I'm definitely looking forward to those 2 inches I should gain from now until September.
I've gauged that my hair doesn't grow that fast, and I think it definitely misses Hairfinity. I can't lie, I feel like my hair was growing like weeds when I used to take these vitamins religiously back in 2010... My birthday is coming up, I think I'm about to make myself an order...
I've been fully natural for the past 2 years now, so I have more than enough mistakes and set backs to have taught me a thing or two so I can now avoid those issues. I know certain things are unavoidable (Yeah, I mean You SSK's! #ikillyou! You too split ends!) but I'm so happy I've learned different techniques and theories to keep these issues at bay. Aside from any setbacks, I'm also really happy just to have learned my hair, what it likes and needs, the fact that I have like 7 different textures and all of my beautiful hair is in a mohawked section on my head, and my sides and edges will be the death of me. The fact that my hair doesn't seem to grow the average 1/2 inch a month but instead a little slower. Understanding is a beautiful thing.

Looking back at the different goals I've set and readjusted on this blog over time, I wasn't doing too bad with staying on track until my setback last summer. With a quick goal readjustment, I'm hoping to claim full shoulder length by the end of the summer, Collarbone length even, and full arm pit length by Valentine's Day 2013. By this point, hopefully most of my layers will be grown out, so all of my hair can reach these lengths, not just a tail in the back. My hair is really fine, so it also adds to the reason why I don't want too many layers, I want my hair to look as full as possible. My goal is actually to achieve all one length (with probably just like an inch of layering from the bottom for shape), full, hip length hair that is full all the way down to the ends. It might sound crazy, but since I'll be wearing my hair curly 97% of the time, it'll probably still be shrinking up to shoulder length in Wash n Gos if I let it... Plus with my short torso, hip length is jsut about 20-22 inches of hair on me... 6 down, 16 more inches to go! lol

And lastly, I will say I'm uber excited to see my ponytail, as with relaxed hair I never had a ponytail even half as full as it is now (sad. I know). The even better thing  about that is, my hair still has a lot of growing to do so my ponytail will be even fuller soon! =D

I can't wait to see what my hair will look like straightened come September!!! Who out there is Growing with me?! 

My Last Straightening Before Summer... (+OOTD)

 On May 3rd I got the itch to straighten my hair for the last time before the summer hits... I figured "Hey... Cinco de Mayo is coming up..plus I have the itch to see what my color looks like straightened." I had just gotten back from LA too, with their beautiful, even weather so I was still getting used to the fact that the weather was still $h!tty here in NYC! I thought I would leave for a week at the end of April and come back to sunny skies... it was actually colder when I got back -__-
Anyways, A roller set and flatiron later (notice: I can use bigger cap less rollers now!!!), I got invited to a friend's surprise birthday so I set out to join the fun. Without watching the weather. #nobueno
Though I was only going about 5 blocks from my house and it was only drizzling, my hair went from looking like this right after I finished it:

To looking like this by the time I got there, ending up in a little bun on the top of my head so I could look half decent just tipsy going home:

 I wore my hair in a little tightly wrapped bun to keep my ends moisturized for the next day, and went with my trusty 2 buns for Cinco de Mayo. I'm really a big advocate of only straightening once, so once my hair goes puffy on me, that's it for the bone straight look...
 I hope you enjoy my Cinco de Mayo look, I tried to play on the 2 buns and basically go for the cute Asian girl look, lol (I dig cute Harajuku Kawaii Asians!) Looks like I was feeling stripey for the start of May... I guess you could also say I did a little light protective styling, lol

 I will be posting a part 2 to this hair straightening post to show you  my straight hair length check for before summer! I don't plan to straighten again until its not humid anymore... so that'll probably be some time in late September, that should be a great comparison as long as I keep up with the hair care.

After I got tired of the buns, I returned to my regular 2-strand flat twist pattern to achieve a silky, stretched, twist out. Unfortunately my camera died before i could take a shot of how I fluffed and styled, but I promise there will be a lot more fluffing and styling to come =)

Don't judge me! I know y'all were all out there trying get your last straightening in before the summer too! Were you? lol 

**I used the same products for this style as I used in my Rollersetting and Flatironing Natural Hair Video.

Outifts & Hairstyles

I hate when I get so busy that I don't get to post as much as I'd like to, but the good thing is I'm always taking photos so I can post later! I'm so happy my hair is growing, as well as my options in styling.
I live in twist outs, with the occasional blowout and very seldom straightening. In the past summers with short hair I've lived in Wash & Go's, but now that my hair is getting longer, I just realize my hair gets way too tangled with Wash & Go's... I think I may try overnight banding If I i still want to wear a semi-Wash & Go look with my own curls... plus i love the feeling of washing my hair everyday in the summer... I guess that's one thing I'll miss about having a TWA... that's probably it.  Lol
Here are a few photos I've posted on Instagram of some different outfits and hairstyles I've rocked over the past 3 or 4 weeks.

 What is your go to hairstyle?

Also, is anyone interested in Curly Film Chick and I posting outfits of the day? Let us Know!