My 2nd Braid & Twist Out

 Before I blew my hair out, my last rollerset had gotten pretty stale and my hair needed to be washed, but I had very minimal time.

I co-washed while in the shower with the plethora of conditioners I have been using to keep my over processed hair feeling as good as possible (will make a  post about that soon) and was so ready for bed!

I knew I needed to do something with this hair of mine, and my West Indian side kicked in and said "tro it in some plaits gyal" and that's exactly what I did. I plaited my hair until about 2 inches were left, and turned the rest into a two strand twist, much like when I did my Braid & Twist out the 1st time. I prefer the curls on the ends from twist outs, but like the wavy texture with braid outs.

On my damp hair, I applied Lacio Lacio, Elasta QP's Olive Oil and Mango Butter, JBCO to seal and 8 plaits later I'm in bed. Unraveled in the morning with Vatika oil, fluffed, separated and go! I was super busy and tired last week, so this was optimal for quick styling.
I think I will forever be a twist out girl but I look forward to enjoying more braid outs as my hair gets longer.

Which Do You like Better, Braid Outs, Twist Outs, or a Braid/Twist combo?

Taylor Swift Inspired Natural Updo

Remember the post I wrote about putting together my fall looks?

Well I was looking back into that post for inspiration, and decided to do a video for you all of the Taylor Swift Updo Look!

I did this style when my hair was shorter on another video, but I hope this is a much better rendition

 In the past I had been taking the videos with my computer, so this time around I decided to do them with my phone so I hope it's a little clearer for you all! Enjoy!

Sunday Question: Advice For The Someone Going Natural

"2nd Day" hair from a braid out on Friday

At work on Friday, I got into a small discussion with a co-worker about hair. She compliments a lot of my styles, especially when my hair is big and loose, and often says how she wishes her hair could do that.

"My hair is a brillo pad," she always says. "You have a good grade of hair, that's why you can wear it like that."

I'm always startled whenever someone mentions "good hair" because I don't believe in it, and also never know what to say to that. If I wasn't so thrown off, I would muster up a response explaining that there's no such thing as "good hair" and that you just need to learn how to take care of it; that it's true that people have a problem with perceptions of beauty and "kinky" hair is expected to be "tamed" instead of admired or "owned" as SP wrote the other day. Alas, I'm not that eloquent on the spot and I have difficulty in talking to people who are "set in their ways of thinking" (like the notion of "good" and "bad" hair) because I find it more beneficial to show them instead. Ironically I didn't realize that I've been showing my co-worker for a long time that natural hair is awesome through the styles I wear at work and as a weave-wearer with relaxed hair, she wanted to learn how to work with her natural hair as well. I finally picked up on it when on Friday she said that she had a stylist do a twist-out that came out horribly because her hair was just too dry, and that she went back to the weave but opted not to get her hair relaxed and used a hot comb instead to blend because she really doesn't want to process it anymore. It suddenly dawned upon me that all this time she was trying to get me to help her with her with her hair! So a little later that afternoon after being on gChat with SP agonizing over the situation (would it be offensive to tell recommend products, tell her that there's no such thing as bad hair etc - I've had a bad experience with this before!) I walked over to her and chatted with her about hair, then gave her SP's info for styling. She was relieved and happy for the chat - whew!

So I guess today's question is, What is your quickie advice for someone thinking of going natural for the first time?

Want to submit a "Sunday Question?" Email at yais.nyc@gmail.com!

Quick TWA & Up Updo!

I did an updo on a failed braidout this morning in preparation to go to an event this morning. I thought it was really cute when I did it but got over it and put my hair in my trusty two buns before I left the house. Luckily for you all, I snapped a few pics before the style went bye bye, lol

I didn't plan to do this, i just had a few bobby pins by my side, my soft bristle brush and some Murrays Cream beeswax... started by separating out the front section (as you can see I did not part anything), doing a roll going backwards and pinning.
I then french rolled up the back while pinning, and at the top, folded it back towards the french roll and tucking it under, creating another hump. Tighten, pin, loosen to your liking, leave out a few curls if it tickles your fancy, and Voila!

This should work if your hair is at least 5 inches or longer, you may just need to tweak everything a little :) This is also a great protective style because your ends are all tucked away.

 Even great for transitioners to tuck away those straight ends.
Here's a link to another rendition of this same style I did a few months ago on my shorter hair.

 Good luck and have fun styling!

   

(excuse the messy room : )

Would anyone wear this style?!

TWA Braid/Twist Out

The beautiful view from the ferry

One fine morn while at a friend's house out in Staten Island, I decided to style my hair because I was going to be heading to an event later that evening and wouldn't have time to do my hair when I got home. Since I hadn't planned for any of this, I hadn't packed any products so I was at the mercy of whatever my friend could spare. Luckily for me, since I got her to go natural about 2 years ago she had a few natural hair products in her house that I quite liked. I'm still testing the products now so I don't want to go name dropping and false reviewing... counting my eggs before they hatch basically. I will say that i was in LOVE with my hair that day! I don't know if it was the Staten Island water, the cowash, or the whipped shea butter product I used.. or all 3... but I can say my hair was perfect. It was defined, stretched out, light, bouncy, had movement and smelled amazing. This was also my first time trying a 1/2 braid out, 1/2 twist out... which i decided to do on a whim as an attempt to  minimize shrinkage while still achieving twist out curls.... I basically got the idea from the ladies who like to do braid & curl's.

Since I didn't sleep in this style, I had to sit under a hooded dryer, and because I am impatient, I then proceeded to blow dry each braid, and my hair was still damp when I took it out! None the less, I used the blowdryer to stretch out my roots and my hair was perfectly bouncy all day.

I was even able to achieve really awesome second day hair without any re-twisting or re-braiding! I will definitely be reviewing the products I used soon, and trying this braid/twist out again.

What do you think ladies about the 1/2 Braid, 1/2 Twist out?  Is this something you have done or would try?                    

Big Hair Days - How I Get to 3 Day Hair

So I've decided for the rest of the summer to wear my hair big, which has kept my routine pretty simple for the last couple of weeks. I was stuck in a styling rut after my wedding and since I was tired of buns and the weather has cooled down significantly, I decided to just let my hair "do what it does."

I've been washing my hair twice a week and using either conditioner or Eco-Styler gel as a leave-in, then I put my hair into 4-6 braids. Because I have so much hair, it's usually not dry by the morning so on Day 1, I have a shrunken curly look:

At night, I put my hair back in the 4-6 braids, sometimes with conditioner if I want some definition, and wake up and fluff in the morning so that Day 2 hair looks something like this:

By Day 3, my  hair is pretty stretched out and it's when my hair is at it's largest. Again, I'm braiding the night before then fluffing out my hair to get it as big as I feel like for the day:

Yesterday's Hair

Day 3 (or 4) is when I wash and condition and do the same thing all over again. I love how easy this is for me and I've been getting so many compliments at work from all types of people (I'm one of four black women at my job and the only natural). Of course I do get the "omg did you get a haircut" thing when my hair is wet and appears shorter, and after a while I did get annoyed. I finally decided to tell one of my co-workers who asked, that I have the ability to control the length of my hair using a Jedi Mind Trick - it at least made him laugh and now it's a running joke.

Stretching Your Hair Without Direct Heat

A lot of us who are natural and have very curly/coily hair have to deal with the single-strand knots, shrinkage, tangles, frizz, and even matting. It comes with the territory of having textured tresses. We can minimize tangles, knots and shrinkage by way of "stretching" our hair out.Check the links for some of our favorite ways to stretch out our hair:
Twist outs
Braid Outs
Rollersets
Bantu knots

Before stretching your hair, be sure to de-tangle well. Whether it's with a wide-tooth comb, denman brush, or your fingers be sure to start from bottom to top with water and/or a conditioner.

What's your favorite way to stretch your curls/coils? Let us know!

EDIT: I forgot about a big one: BANDING ! SP has used it quite a few times for her TWA. Have any of you tried?

Reader Question: Transitioner Learning how to Style

Sietta (Not Pictured Above) said...

I'm looking to transition from wearing sew-ins to wearing my own natural hair again, but I'm lost about how to go about styling it :( I haven't worn my own hair for more than a week in almost 5 years and I don't have a perm so as you could imagine it is very difficult to work with at this point and I am concerned about styles because of this. Also, my coils are SUPER tight and idk what to do with them at this point because my hair has never been this untrained so I know I have a job ahead of me lol. Do you have any suggestions for styles until I can get my coils to loosen a little?

Hi Sietta, 
Thanks for asking and we're glad to help =)
For starts, I would say it'll be a little hard without a few extra details (Hair length? What look you would like to achieve? What do you mean by trained hair and coil loosening?)but I will give you the best advice possible for anyone in your situation or anyone who needs help learning their new texture and how to care for it.

Part 1 - Moisturize, Detangle & Stretch!!!
As a professional hair stylist, time and time again I've seen women trying to go natural after wearing weaves for quite some time, but feeling discouraged about their "rough, dry, hard" manes. They think they have this horrible texture of hair because it is usually dry and malnourished, and because of this, their hair may also be a lot more shriveled and shrunked up.

Start with a spritzer bottle with water, get some of your favorite slippery conditioner, take your hair in one section at a time, moisturize, detangle from the ends up, and either braid, twist, bun or band the little section to keep the moisture in and your hair from shrinking up again (You can also do this in the shower if it's easier/faster for you). 

Part 2 - Washing
Don't be afraid, moisture and water are your best friends :)
After detangling and moisturizing it should be much easier to deal with your hair now, and if you have a lot of hair you may want to leave it in those sections during your wash. If/when I wash in sections, I will bring a few hair clips in the shower with me so as I wash one section at a time, I can twist and pin it back up so it stays stretched and detangled and I won't need to comb through my hair again....or at least bring a scrunchie to throw it all in a ponytail.

Part 3 - Styling
When it comes to styling natural hair, it's all about knowing the look you're going for, and understanding what your hair will and won't do. Henna and other natural products like coconut milk have been known to cause a little curl loosening, but usually on looser textures. The way we usually go about loosening our curls usually is by way of chemicals or heat damage, as a lot of hairstylists will call burning your curls out "heat training." Know that this is not an accurate method (not a method at all) ladies.

I love the curly look and my hair is curly but shrinks A LOT so I live in twist outs as it lets me have the look of my own curls, minus all the shrinkage. Doing twist-outs, braid-outs, banding, or any other kind of Set that will stretch the hair, should help with your feeling of wanting to loosen your curls. When I want a curlier, froey-er twist out I will do it on wet hair or re-twist an old twist out, and if I'd like my hair to be a little silkier, I'll first rollerset my hair and do my twist out on that. 

Here are some links to help you along your journey:
Tips For Naturals
Creating Textures
Creating a Regimen

I hope this helped, and please, don't ever feel like your options are limited, And Haircare above all else!!!

Long TWA Ladies: Do You Ever Feel Stuck Between A Rock And A Twist-Out?

Yes, I said Long TWA, lol. I'm sure anyone who's grown their hair out from a TWA before would understand what it's like when you get to that in between point when your hair is finally not 2 inches long anymore... but still once you let it dry, it kinda still is.    >_< grrrr shrinkage!

I would say my hair is close to being full shoulder length,  definitely full neck length already with my nape already crawling past my shoulders. When I wash my hair, most of my textures shrink up to about 2 - 3  inches. My hair lengths range from 5 to 8 inches. If I was to air dry, I would always have a 1 inch looking shrunken up Afro  -_- 

Now That would be fine if I wanted to rock a 1 inch fro. I would totally just keep my hair cute and cut and easy, but since I'm currently in the process of growing my hair out, it's really frustrating to not immediately be able to see my length, I always have to do some type of stretching process: Banding, Braiding, Twisting, bunning, setting, straightening... uhg... I've learned that it comes with the territory but it's all so frustrating. 

I thought I was out of the TWA park but I'm really realizing I'm not. I just can't wait until my hair gets longer so I can stop feeling like I'm stuck between a rock and a twist out.

All you ladies that have or have had a TWA, have you experienced this feeling? What helped you get through these in-between times?

Lesson Learned

This weather has been so confusing; warm and gorgeous one day, cold and rainy the next. My allergies have been so bad I'm recovering from a sinus infection which left me sounding like a horse the last couple of days (I'm almost back to normal today though) Anyway, I washed my hair on Sunday and threw in some bantu knots which didn't dry in time yesterday but stretched my hair our nicely. So Monday night I dabbed my strands with some EcoStyler Gel and  because I heard it was supposed to be nice out Tuesday I woke up a little later then usual because allergy medication always makes me drowsy (thanks Zyrtec!) and I overslept so did know that there would be some rain first from the news? No, I thought I was going to rock a wonderfully defined (if I may so so myself) braid - out for the day

A better picture of my red lips

But guess who's hair puffed up to a not-so-cute afro by the time I got to the train station? I didn't have a headband or anything to make it look cute so I had to bun it when I got to work. #fail

 Lesson? Watch the weather channel or listen to the radio for weather before you leave the house. Or look at the sky because when it's gray that's usually a sign of some wet weather which apparently I didn't think to do either. It's rainy again today so my hair is back in a bun because I can't be fooled twice!

New Ombre' Color + Curly Side Puff Updo

 Every year when the spring/summer comes around, I always get that itch for fun, vibrant, bright color! Last year I decided to go with some creative color I referred to as my party patch. This year I decided to lighten a piece of my hair in the front, in the same area where I had placed last years party patch (since it was previously lightened which would make the process a little easier). Being that my roots were virgin, I knew they would lift to blonde, and my end previously being dyed green, i knew would lift to a lighter green. (left)
Once my hair lifted to my desired level using B&W bleach and 40 volume developer, inspired by the oh so trendy Ombre' hair color effect, I decided to use Lie Locks and Shocking Blue from Manic Panic to create my own colored Ombre look. I used a little 10 volume developer on my own hair and then added the manic panic, starting with the Lie Locks and then fading into the Shocking Blue, without disturbing the already light green area. The photos below shows my hair with being highlighted with bleach in foils, then shows my hair immediately after the color was rinsed out.

 And here are some photos of what the color looks like a little damp... while contemplating doing a full head of 2 strand twists... (In the stretched hair photo, you can totally see all the bleach damage on the part of my hair that's green, since it's been bleached a few times :(

And here is my hair, fully dried,with the front twisted out, and everything pushed to the side with a headband. Those twists that didn't make it to a full hair style made a great set of twisted out bangs and my is hair so curly from the 4 braids I did the other night to sleep, after washing my hair...
which I wore yesterday in 2 buns which really helped to stretch out my curls while still keeping them in tact!

I am sooo in love with my hair today and hope I can try to re-visit this style next week when I actually have something to do! lol

How do you like the curly side puff with the heavy bangs? What about the color? Would you Rock it?

VERY Happy Hair as of lately!

 You all know I'm impatient, so it's no wonder I took my weave out in a week! lol I guess what it is more so though, is that I really enjoy my own hair, especially now that it's getting longer. And though I enjoy wearing weaves and extensions, I still end up feeling fake. I know I will enjoy weave more when my hair is long enough to fully and easily blend... right now it's just a little more work and leaves me with limited styling that makes me just rather my own hair...

So, I took my hair out 2 nights ago, and since I had washed my hair about 3 days before that and moisturized it, It left me with a beautiful, soft, and defined braid out.. In love!!!

Randomly, I bought this Aloe Body Lotion at the hair show that I did not love for my body, but upon reading the ingredients further, decided to try it in my hair, and so far it's amazing!!!

I don't want to jump the gun, seeing as how i've only been using it for a day or two, so I won't give any reviews or names of anything until I've used it for a while... especially since it's initially intended to moisturize the skin... Review in let's say...a week?  

Anyhoo... I moisturized my hair yesterday using the Aloe Cream and decided to wear the braid out in my fave 2 buns, and was so happy to see how much my hair had grown, as my buns were bigger, fuller, and longer! I even had to squish them down quite a bit to get scrunchies over 'em.

I definitely loved the protective styling benefits of wearing the weave for a week, and I am thinking of wearing my usual large, long extention braids for the first 2 weeks of May... just to  get some protective styling in (especially for my front edges) without missing my hair like crazy. Also, though I love those braids, they're damned heavy! lol

 I bought some new products at the hair show I wanted to try and my scalp was a little itchy so I decided to wash my hair last night. Again, I won't be reviewing anything until I use it for a little while so I can give a full and thorough review...

Before washing however, I decided to do a few length checks, just to see how this growth process is going and I'm happy to say I'm pleased. My hair doesn't grow super fast, and it can break, tangle, get split ends and single strand knots pretty easily, so growth around here is a joyus occasion, lol. My edges are still basically the shortest of my hair, my hair at my crown and upper head in general being the longest. 

Fashion Week Hair

Ladies and (if we have any) Gentle-dudes,
I'm so sorry I've been gone from posting, things have just been so hectic with fashion week and all, but in a few more days things will be back to normal for me.... as if my life was normal before.. lol.
Anyhoo...
It's been crazy hectic for me chaperoning girls around the city to castings and fittings, going to a few different shows, working in the office at Wilhelmina, shooting girls for their showcards and books, and all while still taking my clients and hoping to get a moment in to eat, shower, and sleep... I've had 2 days off in the past month and the universe only knows what I'm running on..
My hair however has been running on Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Elasta QP's Olive oil and Mango Butter, Jojoba Oil and Shea Butter... whatever it takes to keep her majesty moisturized during these busy times when I can't remember when was the last time I washed my hair... Oh! And a new favorite product:

CHI Deep Brilliance Glisten

 I seal in my moisture with this stuff and my hair seriously does glisten, all while still being light and fluffy and softer than cotton candy, plus it smells awesome. I trimmed my hair sometime within this crazy month because my split ends were getting a bit ridiculous but I have been retaining length which i'm super excited about... my hair in the front is like a 1/4 inch from my top lip! I haven't been able to rollerset my hair since last month, so i just washed my hair and blew it out, and have been basically wearing it in afros or twisted up ever since. Everyone's been loving my hair and it's been a crazy, sexy mess! I love it too.
Rollerset Hair:

Wash and Go Curls:

Blown Out Hair:

Me extremely tired with my hair twisted up

And this was my hair today, the result of doing  cornrows to sleep, fluffing in the morning, and after much wind, Voila! lo.

 So Basically fluffed up fros have been my life this fashion week (though it been more like a month for me), as I really haven't had time for much else. I can't wait to have the time to do some DEEEEEEP conditioning and get back to my rollersetting regimen!

What do you or have you resort(ed) to as a regimen when you're too busy for your regular regimen?