Natural Hair Summer Styling: Updos

Hey there folks!

As someone with a lot of hair, I sometimes dread having to do it, especially when it's hot. When my hair was shorter (not exactly TWA short, but shrunk up above my neck) summer hair was much easier. But as a little heads-up to my short-haired folks whose goal is to have length, do know that it will be a challenge, although that's not necessarily a bad thing.

This weekend, I set my hair in curl formers and then put most of my hair in a banana clip. I was in Connecticut visiting my dad and siblings and we had a bbq, and I was running outside chasing my two year old brother, so the hair being up was helpful.

Curly up-do

Side view of hair, holding my little brother

Anyway, I've been searching for updos to add to my summer styling, especially since I want to look cute for outdoor events, like birthdays, BBQs and the beach.  I've only found a couple of images that I'm inspired by

They seem easy enough, of course I'll add my own spin. I hope to find a lot more too. What are your summer hair styling plans?

Gushing Over New Products: Shea Moisture and TRESemme

I've been itching to try new products for a while but didn't know where to go to first. Product hunting is overwhelming am I right? Anyway, earlier this week after work (at around 11:30pm smh!) I wandered into Duane Reade to just browse. Then I saw TRESemme, and I've been chatting with the good folks at the CurlyNikki forum who had mentioned how nice the product was, and since it was on sale I decided to give  the TRESemme Naturals Conditioner a go. Then I saw SheaMoisture products, which SP has been raving about for a while. I decided that I did want to try a new shampoo and a new leave-in, which turned out to be the Curl and Style Milk.

Folks, I'm mad at myself I didn't try these products sooner! So far, I'm extremely happy with my items. The TRESemme conditioner had nice slip, and my detangling session was a breeze. The SheaMoisture shampoo, (my goodness the shampoo!) was great. My hair didn't mat up or feel dry. There was a nice silky liquid cleansing my strands. The Hair Milk is a great leave-in. After washing, I added it to my hair in sections, then put a few big plaits in my hair for a braid out, although I'm pretty sure I ended up putting my hair in a bun because of the sticky heat.

Viola! My hair is in box braids for now, but I will probably co-wash with TRESemme mid-week if I feel it needs some moisture. So yeah, these products are definitely in my summer rotation. I'm so happy I could find something locally and so late at night!

Hair Crush: Annie Ilonzeh

(Ugh!! I dream for a curly fro like this some day!!!)

 I don't remember what I was watching honestly, but I know I was flipping through the channels and came across this gorgeous head of curls. It was some award show, so luckily i got her name and started on my Google quest to identify the coif. Annie Ilonzeh, gorgeous girl and gorgeous hair! It appears she's mostly wearing her natural texture in a defined wash and go. Oh, who is she?
A Nigerian-American (No wonder where she gets that great smile) actress who has had staring roles on shows like General Hospital and most currently, the recreation of Charlie's Angels on ABC. She is also the first ever Black Charlie's Angel! Cool!
Some gratuitous pics of her on set which show some cool shots of her hair, and might I add that the other 2 Angels have lovely hair too.

 And of course her hair looks gorgeous straightened too.... drooling!

My Color Relapse and the perfect twist-out formula

 Okay... so i know i went through the whole cutting my hair off because it was color damaged last year, but i dyed my hair like a million times in a short period of time last year and I can't live without color!!!!
I realize that probably for the rest of my life I will be addicted to color, so instead of fighting it, im just going to make good, sure choices about my color and take very good care of my color treated hair with loads of deep conditioning and the whole 9... I will no longer deprive myself of color because I know I will always relapse, so as with everything, I will color with moderation.

These pictures are crappy iPhoto and BlackBerry photos so they don't show the true color of my hair  but you can see that it's a little lighter and a lot brighter.. and how amazing my twist out looks!!! I wish you all (had to fight the temptation to write 'yall') could just reach in and feel how incredibly soft my hair is. This is a twist out from 5 flat twists i did last night, taken out, separated and fluffed with loads of Shea oil this morning. Not to mention, i started a new reggie of stretching my twist outs a little more by putting the nozzle on my blowdryer, holding my hair taught from my head and with cool, low air, I blow down the hairshaft.

I really couldn't get enough of my hair today... I've been playing in it like crazy because it feels so soft and conditioned and fluffy and managable. Most of the styles were pinned, and the 2 puffs were done with 2 banana clips

Oh, and my new killer combination for the perfect twist-outs: Herbal Essences None of Your Frizzness Smoothing Leave-in Cream and Eco Styler Gel... OMG! Best Combo to date! My twist-outs come out more like sets because my hair is like straight, but curly, as opposed to being more afro-curly like usual... In my usual twist outs you can sort of see my natural texture where as with these two products it looks almost as if my hair were straightened first and then set on small rollers. I give both of these products 2 thumbs and 2 toes up each and together... a STANDING ovation!!!

For my next twist-out, i will do a video so you all can see how i flat-twist my hair and how much product i use to get my results :)

On May 20th, I...

....straightened my hair! Yes, stupid to do on short natural hair in New York's humid spring but hey, I got the itch and also needed to trim my ends a little bit more so i did anyway. Remember when i mentioned that I straighted my hair recently back in my Side Puff! post? Well this is what i was talking about... nothing too special, especially thanks to the humidity so it was only semi-straight for about 2 days, but it's cool to have an update from the last time I straightened my hair.  Here goes!:

Hair At Union Square

This is us yesterday after shopping a bit and devouring Chipotle.

Curly Film Chick's Hair: poofy, not really detangled, undefined braid out. (Which really means the night before, I got home from work and threw my hair in some big plaits before passing out.)

SPStyles: Mo-Hawk twist-out that I was lusting after as if I didn't know her and never saw her hair before LOL.

(We're going to try and take more hair pics together, because we see each other a lot more then we make it seem like)

How have you been wearing your hair lately? Drop us a comment! And enjoy your weekend!