Getting Back To My Curls

Happy Monday!

I was so eager to see my hair back to curly with the shape and hi-lights so I washed my hair Friday night. I used a new line of products, Jessicurl. I ordered the trial pack which includes shampoo, conditioner, her infamous weekly deep conditioner and some styling products.

I won't give a full review just yet because I only used it once, but I don't mind it so far. I split my hair into four sections, then pre-poo'd with Burts Bees Avocado Butter for about 20 minutes on wet hair and then rinsed it out. I then used Jessicurl's Hair Cleansing Cream on each section and then rinsed. I will say that my hair felt pretty moisturized and smooth and the smell is not bad either---sorta reminds me of putting herbs in my hair.

Right after rinsing out Avocado Butter

Cleansing Cream in my hair

I then used the Too Shea! Extra Moisturizing Conditioner which was a thick cream with some detangling power. Rinsed that out and then went in on the Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment that I've heard so much about. I applied it to each section and wrapped my head up in a plastic bag and let it sit for about 45 minutes as I was busy about my apartment. I rinsed it out in cold water and detangled a little, which was a breeze...

freshly washed and detangled hair

 THEN I decided to stretch my hair using curlformers. I let it air-dry, took them out and using my fingers smoothed the curls out and put my hair in a high ponytail. I was done for the night. Yesterday I decided to put my hair in medium-sized boxed braids that I'll probably take out at the end of the week or maybe leave it in for 2, I haven't decided yet. You can probably see how the ends of my hair are unraveled and curled up...I like it like that actually.






The Full Look

The pincurls are out........

the back

So, this is how my hair looked the day after I got my hair colored and flat-ironed. I really loved the shape and the fact that my crunchy ends are pretty much gone. I pretty much just moisturized with Coconut Oil and my hair stayed soft and moisturized.

i hate you single strand knots.

Straightening, Trimming, and Shaping

As CFC mentioned last week in her post The Conundrum of Coloring Henna'd Hair, she got her hair high-lighted at an Aveda Salon by her house... here's a little sneak peak.... Aren't they lovely?!

I then met up with her at her house to straighten and trim after her highlighting appointment...

First thing's first, Whoa! I always forget that she has enough hair for 4 people on her head and it's going to take me all day to do! Lol I've only met a few women who have had heads worth of hair and i have to say, i tip my hat to you ladies because that must be a lot of regular work!

I am always drooling over her hair so i never mind getting the chance to dip my fingers in =D I flatironed from dry curly to straight using Chi's silk infusion, trimmed/shaped, and silk wrapped her hair.

What is Shaping you ask?

When i say Shaping in this instance, i mean trimming her hair as little as possible, mostly to shape-up the shape her hair already has and/or add shape, as opposed to just trimming only the the length or giving her more of a haircut. As you can see in the pictures, i took off a lot of weight when i shaped her hair which will help it fall nicely when she wears it curly or straight, especially since she has a lot of hair.

 

The Left side are the Befores and The Right side are Afters...
She said she loves the shape!




  

Mohawks for the Holidays and Giveaways....

Happy Holidays!!! Hope everyone enjoyed stuffing their faces with their families. Gobble. Lol

So we currently have a little Mini Giveaway contest going on right now which ends right after the Holidays on Sunday, November 28th @ 8pm so check it out and don't miss out on your chance to win some cool Giovanni products!
So for our contest, we asked our Yais readers to follow and send us a pic of your favorite protective styles! In my effort to contribute, although i can't win (darn!),  i decided to do a cool little stlye for all my TWA ladies out there. I know everyone loves Mohawks so here's my spin on it with my little TWA twist hawk.. thingy.. lol

Sorry this is the only pic i got of the twist-out i later did on the 2 strand twists

Mini Afro update II

These pics are from Sunday, before CFC Henna'd my hair for me. This was my first day picking out my fro' since i chopped again and i love the color and fullness my fro has, not to mention that its growing back at a pretty good rate :) The Brown you see in my afro is some of the color i missed when trimming off all my colored ends but those will stay there until i decide to trim again some time in 2011.

I twisted my hair to stretch it over night, picked out the twists in the morning and added my head band and little flower clip for decor'. I plan to try a new style just for you TWA ladies out there who feel bored  and don't know what to do so stay tuned!

Happily Henna'd hair!

It was finally time for me to get a good deep condition so CFC Henna'd my hair for me yesterday!
She mixed the same Henna for me that she uses, with some green tea and natural raw honey.
HERE is the post she did showing the Henna she uses.

My hair loved it!!! I kept it on for about 2 hours and washed vigorously with Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut condish to help the henna grains slip out. I washed probably a total of 4 times so far and my scalp feels clean, my hair feels moisturized and softer than ever before, and even my problem areas aren't seeming to be such a problem! My curls clumped together beautifully after using Henna, i definitely will be doing a henna treatment again... maybe even on a monthly basis!

As for color, i did get some red deposit but i will say that i love the way it looks! My hair is so shiny and it looks browner than it did before. I think the henna helped to removed some of the black rinse i had left in my hair from rinsing my hair for the weave install, so now i can really see my natural color and i love it.

The Conundrum of Coloring Henna'd Hair

I wanted to let dear hair enthusiasts know how my salon trip went yesterday. As I mentioned before, I have never been to a salon unless SP was there using my hair for an assignment or doing some sort of project. So there I was at Natural Looks, an Aveda salon with my hair stretched from a bantu-knot out. The colorist touched my hair and brought my some color swatches of brownish reds and shades of brown. I picked a much lighter brown then I had originally intended. I also only wanted half a head of hi-lights (#notmadeofmoney) She thought my hair never had been colored, but I informed her that I had hi-lights before that grew out and that I use henna. Oh, I'm going to have to use bleach, she said. Because henna is a plant that binds itself to the hair. This was something I already knew but I was hoping she wouldn't have to bleach it because I'm horrified of messing up my hair. But with proper care, I knew my hair would be fine and Aveda's color is for the most part non-damaging, so I was like ok, bleach me!

The Colorist (we'll call her N) decided to wash my hair because she had to use bleach. The shampoo lady used Aveda's Dry Remedy shampoo and conditioner which I used before and didn't really like. I'm not a fan of the smell or the way it makes my hair feel. But anyway they massaged the scalp as they shampoo'd which was good for me. Then N asked me if I always parted my hair down the middle and I told her yes. She informed me that she would do thicker lines in the front and then thinner lines of color on top, and not add color to the very front because hair is so baby fine there. She also said she was basically strand-testing the top of my hair because of the henna. Which was good because low and behold when she rinsed just the back out my hair was a very bright orange which was NOT what I was going for, as funky as it may have looked. She said she would correct it and not to worry and she most certainly did.

I was looking for a reponse on the CurlyNikki forum to find out how henna would be with hi-lights or color and a forum member told me this:

I have done henna three times and I just got highlights last week. My stylist told me that since henna is a vegetable product it coats the hair and as a result it may change the outcome. She told me that either (1) it would not color the strands evenly, (2) it may turn it some crazy color other than what is desired or (3) it will be just fine. Because of this she would not do my whole head that day and opted to do a strand test in two sections of my hair. Those two tests came out just the way I wanted them so I rescheduled and got the rest done and they turned out great!! I haven't henna'd since so I dont know what it will do from here. I would definitey ask again to make sure she actually knew what henna was before she colors your hair though! HTH!

In my case I think it worked out pretty well. I know this is like a teaser post because I didn't put any pics up of my hair, but I want everyone to see the finished look that I was going for. SP straightened and shaped/trimmed my hair which pulled my whole look together =) Stay tuned for the pics!

Impromtu twist out

I two strand twisted my hair while in the shower the other day with Giovanni Deeper Moisture Smooth as Silk conditioner, grabbing random small sections, detangling and twisting as i went along.

 I decided not to wash the conditioner out, instead i left the twists in but rung out some of the conditioner and let them airdry. 

My SO and i decided to go out so after a few hours of airdrying, i sat under my hooded dryer for about 5-10 minutes and then proceeded to untwist.

 I lifted at the roots with my pik but didn't go too crazy... low manipulation..stuck some pins in and Voila!! 

* I think sitting under the dryer definitely helped the set so i'll be sure to try this again and sit under the dryer

Meanwhile in Natural-ville....

Good morning, hair enthusiasts!

So, I'm about to leave for my color appointment but I just wanted to give an update on hair. I did pretty good with protective styling all week because of the buns. The problem of course is that I didn't manage to do anything interesting like the buns I was practicing with =/ I just kept it in a low bun, either using a donut or simply wrapping my hair around itself and using bobbypins to secure.

I had a semi-busy/stressful week so I didn't get a chance to wash my hair until Friday night, when I had actually planned to do so Wednesday. SP recommended that I also not use heavy products so soon before my appointment, but I generally don't so I wasn't worried. I opted to do a another bantu-knot out but since I work Saturday mornings and my hair takes forever to dry in bantu knots, it was still too damp and I knew it wouldn't hold so I put my hair in two messy banded ponytails and left some curly bangs. I wish I would've taken pictures! But I went out last night to dinner with some friends and I know they took some pics so I will post as soon as they make the rounds on facebook. I also wanted to say about the bantu-knot outs that I love the way my hair looks right now because of them. I dig the "messy" looks so I separated the curls some more for this fluffy look I've got going on at the moment:

Bantu-Knot set: Washed with Curls Shampoo, Conditioned with Renpure Organics My Hair Is Parched, Set with Aloe Vera Gel and sealed with Jojoba Oil.

Fluffed out knot out, 2nd day hair

Man, I'm gonna miss my dark hair. I already have a lot of anxiety about this because I've never been to a salon before and b) I'm wondering if it'll come out the way I want due to the henna. Wish me luck!!

Giovanni Samplers giveaway!

We Extended the time for our Mini Giveaway so you ladies and gentle guys could get your submissions in and win!

Winners will recieve a 4 sample sizes of Giovanni products! 

The Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Shampoo and  Conditioner and the 50:50 Balanced Shampoo and 50:50 Hydrating Calming Conditioner.... That's 4 products!!! 

(This is the 2 fl oz sample size you will recieve of all 4 products!!!)

 We both love Giovanni products and the Tea Tree Triple Treat shampoo even happens to be a staple for CFC. Check out her review here.

Giveaway rules...

Since it's winter and protective styling is pretty useful for growth retention, we want you to send us a pic of your favorite protective style. It can be buns, twists, braids, etc. Feel free to tell us how you achieved the style in a sentence or two. Since we are extending it, we figured we'd wait until after Thanksgiving/Holiday because we know everyone wants to look nice and will be sure to pull out their coolest style ideas...


We'll be selecting 2 winners at random and hope to post our favorite styles from people who have submitted. Deadline is next Sunday, November 28th @ 8pm so make sure to get those styles in! Send your entries to yais.nyc@gmail.com with  "Protective Style" in the subject line.


In order to be eligible you must reside in the United States (sorry no internationals right now!) and a follower of the blog. Have fun and embrace your curly you!

Relaxers Vs. Naturals III

The pro's and con's of being relaxed.

The pro's and con's of being natural.

I figured i could be a credible source to speak on this topic considering i have been both relaxed and natural several times in my life. Also, through being a hairstylist, i have learned a lot about hair and chemicals scientifically and also the way people feel about different hair types and textures. I feel like i understand both the natural and relaxed worlds for what they are and i am not biased to either side (okay... maybe a little)

That being said....to the lists!

RELAXED

Pro's of being Relaxed:

• Wearing straight hairstyles ~ We all know we can blowout and straighten our long curly hair easily, but what about those girls who wish they could stay natural and sport a Halle Berry cut? No? Is that only me? lol 
• Ease of styling. ~ For some... Depending on a person's texture, or just their preferences, they may find styling relaxed hair easier.
• Can cut down on styling time.
• Doesn't alarm "The MAN" or his brainwashed counterparts.

Cons of being Relaxed:

• Putting a chemical on your head every other month or so.... for years.
• Compromising the integrity of the hair ~ Weakening the hair with chemicals, causing damage and making it susceptible to further damage.
• Over-processed hair ~ Over processed hair can lead to a great deal of ailments, such as brittle, dry, thin, lifeless, breaking hair.
• Chemical burns ~ Some people suffer severely from chemicals burns, causing a peeling, raw and painful sore on the scalp. It can cause scalp dryness and may even burn the hair follicles in some areas, potentially resulting in a bald spot.
• Even those women who's hair seem to tolerate relaxer very well will experience thinning over years of relaxing.

NATURAL

Pro's of being Natural: 

• Not putting a chemical on your head to straighten your hair permanently and comply with the unrealistic beauty standards of today's society.
• Versatility ~ Having the versatility of wearing so many different styles. From braids, to twist- outs, to Afro puffs, to wash and go's, we can wear our hair in so many different styles in it's natural state, and if we want to wear our hair straight, we can just flatiron, roller set, blow dry, silk wrap or find other methods to stretch our hair.
• Don't have to worry about your hair getting wet in the rain, or on a vacation, or sweating your hair out in the club (if you go with a natural style) or at the gym or during any other extra curricular activities.
• Hair doesn't look thin and stringy when wet
• Fuller, thicker, stronger, longer growing hair if properly cared for.
• Hair looks fuller, healthier, and has a beautiful texture when worn straight, and can always just be washed to revert back to curly.

Con's of being Natural:

• Tangled hair, single and double strand knots.
• Shrinkage  and Frizz~ I think the same goes for both of these issues, some people don't mind the shrinkage and frizz associated with natural hair, while  a lot of women do. 
• Can be time consuming (But i would always take the time for myself =)
• Some women may have multiple textures and may need to learn how to properly style their hair to achieve their desired look. 

Now these are just my general observations from way too many hours of blogging and forums, along with some facts, that i have broken down into Pro's and Con's. I'm sure there are  some missing and i would be very interested in seeing what everyone thinks are the best and worst  :)

*Check out Relaxers Vs. Naturals  and Relaxers Vs. Naturals II  

My Color Decision

Natural hair enthusiasts, I have a confession. I am one who has never been to a salon, and yet for the first time in my (whole) natural life, I made an appointment for this Sunday to get my hair colored. It's not so much the coloring services I'm worried about. I love color and have had it before, and each time either my mother or SP put it in. But seeing as how I can count the number of people who have ever done my hair on one hand, I'm nervous about anyone touching and managing my hair. I'm sure we can all relate to that.

I went for a consultation last week and my hair was in twists. The colorist had curly hair too and she felt on it and asked me if I had ever gotten color before. I told her that I had hi-lights about a year-and-half ago and use henna and she said okay. She studied my face and my hair and then asked me what colors I was interested in. At first I told her I wanted a full head of light brown hair, like a chocolate color, but after discussing it with her a little more I decided on hi lights. She gave me her card and said to make an appointment with her anytime. I decided that I would because she made me feel as comfortable as I was gonna get with anyone. And then I promptly called SP to tell her and we decided to make a whole hair day out of it. Meaning, she's going to accompany me to the salon and then style my hair after (and I get to apply henna to her new twa!)

For anyone whose interested, I decided to go to an Aveda Lifestyle Salon Natural Looks in Elmhurst, Queens (my newly adopted boro!) inside the mall. I know of Aveda because SP trained there and they use a lot of natural ingredients. I have even used some of their products. I opted out of box dyes because I want to try this and I like Aveda, as pricey as they are. I'm hoping it's worth it.

The best TWA twist out i ever had!

So obviously i can't control myself and keep in a hairstyle for too long... well i was tempted okay! (what was i thinking when i said locking? lol) Yesterday i went to the health food store to pick up some Aloe Gel and essential oils when i came across a product line i had seen and heard much buzz about, Beautiful Curls. I am such a product junkie so you know i had to get something!!! Lol

I tested it out on one of my little twists in the store and i loved the way it felt in my hair, not to mention how beautiful it made my little curls look.  I sat up last night while on the my computer, untwisting my twists with this cream, doing a little finger twirling, not even looking at what i was doing. When i got up and looked in the mirror, i couldn't believe how beautiful the twist out looked. I sprayed my scalp and hair with my Aloe grow, put on my bonnet and went to sleep. When i woke up this morning and took off my bonnet... WOW! My twist out is so soft and looks so silky and shiny and is by far my best twist out to date... it also looks like a i got a little bit of growth... tomorrow will be one month since i chopped again, so that's prettty cool.

A little TWA hairporn? 

Short hair don't care! Lol

Hair For the Week: Buns

Since my hair is loose and I had no desire to put my hair in twists since experimenting with the bantu knot outs buns seem to be the answer. I still want to keep up with protective styling. I was practicing different ones last night so that I'm not at a loss of what to do in the mornings. I watched some youtube videos for inspiration and this is what I got...

Low side bun

high bun

Double Buns

Excuse the slight messiness of the hair, I'll share neater buns in later posts as well as a couple of other bun styles...

Tiny 2 strand twists

I put these 2 strand twists in on Thursday night because i felt like it was time for a protective style for my new lil' TWA. Here is a picture of them today after i twirled them around my finger with some vitamin e oil for shine and moisture.

I would definitely say my hair is happy being in these little twists, and my head is happy that im not still trying to co-wash daily cuz its freezing here! I am going to try and keep these in for another week,  and just moisturize them with shea butter and vitamin E oil, and add a little castor oil to my poor thin egdes :(
I have been wearing these under my satin bonnet and Beanie since it's cold and i think i may just continue to 2 strand twist or maybe even lock (probably not) my hair for the winter because i want to retain as much length as possible. I also dont plan on needing to trim again until the summer, so wearing 2 strand twists under a satin bonnet and hat for the winter should help to keep away any splits and single strand knots. Hopefully i will see some nice growth when i take these out too...

I may try a twist out with these on Friday or Saturday or something... stay tuned And dont forget about the GIVEAWAY!!!

Bantu Knot Out part 2

So instead of just wrapping my hair around itself I set my knots by doing two strand twists and then wrapping the hair. I co-washed my hair with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration, rinsed it out with cold water, and then used Knot Today as a leave in, sealing with Burts Bees Avocado Butter and Coconut Oil.



Unraveled hair



It seems to resemble more like a twist out to me. I like the way it looks, but it doesn't look anything like the knot-out I did with just single strands.

Hmm, more practice is in order... maybe more with the single strand knot out. I might even try using gel next time.