Heatless Up-do - Back to Flexirods

After coming back from Puerto Rico, I caught some serious hair boredom. To conquer this, I was considering being a "straight natural" for the fall/winter (my hair was straight up till a week ago) but quickly changed my mind after going back to my flexirods over the weekend. SP's recent post about her roller-set using eco-styler gel reminded me of how I wore my hair last winter, and I decided to revisit, especially since I don't want to put heat in my hair for the entire season.

Winter 2011

Since I wanted my roots to be as smooth as possible, this time around when I took our the flexirods I carefully put my hair into six single-strand bantu-knots securing with hair-ties.

Then I placed my hair in an up-do which I posted to our Instagram. I simply used some bobbypins for a messy up-do, and then a neater version that I wore to work yesterday

 All I did was wash and condition my hair, used Lacio Lacio as a leave-in, Eco-styler gel, and sealed with Champagne & Caviar Curl Elixir. At night I put my hair back into the 6 bantu-knots. Today I left my hair hanging loose, but it's still moisturized and my roots are still smoothed and stretched without any heat! I didn't even sit under a dryer (although next time I might, simply because I won't have all the time in the world). I'll probably still straighten a few times this winter, but since I don't want heat damage it's nice to know I have this option. Next post I'll give my Fall/Winter routine and products!

Today's Hair: Curly Fro

So I'm pretty excited at the unexpected results of today's hair. Yesterday's Sunday Question brought up a small discussion on ideas we have for our Fall hairstyles and I mentioned I wanted to still rock fluffy hair and high buns like I was during the summer - except I won't be walking out the house with wet hair and it will definitely be stretched out.

Yesterday I washed with Yes to Cucumbers and deep conditioned using a new product I'm experimenting with, La Plancha Deep Conditioning Treatment (I'll give a full review later this week). Next I used Lacio Lacio as my leave-in and a little John Frieda Ease Straight Fixation Smooth Creme (both of which I've used earlier this summer) and set my hair on flexi-rods. After a few hours of air-drying I took my hair down (even thought it was still a little damp) and put my hair into four big twists and tucked them in with bobby-pins to sleep in. This morning I took down the twists and I had a curly fro!

It's very windy today so I pulled my hair back very loosely, but I really wanted to wear my hair to work just like the first picture, as messy as it looks. I'm sure you can get the same results doing a bantu-knot out too. I'm still feeling really good about this look and will definitely be adding this to my "fall hair." What do you guys think?

Back to Braids!

Snow has finally decided to show up in NYC (which hasn't happened since October) and for some reason this reminded me that I wanted to do a long-term protective style. I've been having a blast with my flexi rods sets because they last until my next wash day and I think the curly-bob is cute!

So I learned that we'd be hit with some snow and started randomly missing braids. As I've mentioned before, Wednesday is my usual mid-week wash day. I set my hair on some curl formers to stretch my hair out Wednesday night, wore it out Thursday and braided my hair last night while re-watching some Futurama episodes.

I think I've gotten a lot better with parting!

Length!

I probably will keep these braids in for about a week. I'm enjoying the length and how I won't have to do much to my hair this week - back to low maintenance!
What are your hair plans for the week?

Rollersetting Natural Hair: Curlformers vs. Flexirods

As you all know from my previous post, I finally did a full flexi-rod set and I was overjoyed with the results. Since then, I've done two more sets and both have come out to my liking. Considering we're in the cold weather season (a.k.a. Winter) I'm trying to avoid the inevitable snagging that occurs with wearing heavier clothing and the ends of my hair hang down and loose and rub against coats and collars; so I've been styling my sets in up-dos

My hair yesterday - "2nd day" hair

I was thinking about whether I prefer setting my hair  with Curlformers or flexi rods and decided to make a comparison based on my experiences with both. Here we go!

Curlformers: Long and Wide Set

Pros:

• Easy to set hair - you simply take a section of hair and using a hook, you pull it into the Curlformer which "sets" the curls for you (see this video I made of me setting my hair) - I call it the "slide-in-and-out" technique
• Less chance of having puffy roots - when done correctly (which I find hard to mess up) your roots are pretty straight
• Easy to sleep in - when you don't have a hooded dryer or you don't have all day to sit with them in your hair

Cons:

• Expensive as sh**
• Hook can snag on hair
• Can't be purchased everywhere - locally I'm pretty sure you can only get at Sallys or you have to order them online
• Rollers rip and tare easily - in the end they are like stretchy plastic!

Flexirods: Various Sizes

Pros:

• Cheap to buy - only $2.99 for a pack of 6 at a Beauty Supply Store
• Options for different size curls depending on the look you're going for (the bigger the rods the larger/wider the curls, smaller rods yield tighter curls)
• Great for long or short hair
• no snagging - rollers are soft and "flexible"

Cons: 

• hard to sleep in - still not as bad as magnetic rollers in my opinion but still uncomfortable
• Can be difficult to set - no "slide-in-and-out" technique for these. If you don't know how to set you can have puffy roots and/or rods falling out of your head

I should also mention a couple more personal things: I've noticed that with Curlformers, my sets do not last as long. While I've been using the same products with my flexi-rod sets (Eco-Styler Gel) I can get 4-5 days with my curls looking decent while with Curlformers I'm lucky to get 2 or 3 and I'm really not sure why that is!

So that's my verdict. I'll be using flexi-rods for a few more times because I want to practice and experiment with them some more, but Curlformers will always hold a special place in my heart for their ease of setting. Have any of you tried Curlformers or flexi-rods? Which do you prefer and why? Let us know!

Hair Style for the New Year - Flexi Rod Set + Updo

Happy New Year folks! Hope you all had a safe one. I personally stayed inside the comfort of my apartment stuffing my face and guzzling down beer with Mr. Smooth while watching content on Netflix and Hulu (I don't even remember  what it was we were watching haha)

But before I had my own little private party on New Years Eve, I decided to do my hair. I had my hair straight for a little over a week and I've been retaining length, even with the two trims I've had these past couple of months. I'm about three inches from bra-strap length which I hope to reach by my end-of-May birthday. I'm also happy that I'm not experiencing as much breakage as I was before.

I decided that I was actually going to use my flexi-rods I've managed to gather over time from places like Walgreens, Target and the Beauty Supply Store. I've always been terrible at roller-setting which is why I've given up on magnetic rollers and stuck to curlformers. But after watching this video  by Kairox146 with gorgeous results, I suddenly got some confidence to give it a try. I clarified my hair, conditioned, used Aphogee for some protein, applied TreSemme Naturals Conditioner as a leave-in, and set my hair with Eco-Styler gel.

There were some parts of my hair where the roots were poofy, but for the most part I did well in that department. At first I wasn't sure if this turned out to my liking but once I started separating the curls, I started liking it a little better. I was heading out yesterday, so I thought pinning my curls up for an up-do was a quick styling option.

Not bad for the first time, right?? I think the look is growing on me, but I'm definitely going to experiment some more.

Later folks!

Braids Remix

So I decided to co-wash my hair with Oyin's Honey Hemp conditioner (as a side note, I forgot how creamy it is!). My hair felt pretty awesome...I sealed with Coconut oil too.

Sopping wet braids

My curly ends

For some reason, I decided to add flexi rods to my hair to give some "umph" to the braids..

Results! (Please excuse my sleepy face!)

Up Close

I've decided to actually take out my hair this weekend. I want to do a henna treatment and try another hairstyle that's been floating in my head and since this is a holiday weekend I'll actually been able to spend some time doing my hair. I've been so busy lately and once again, thankful for protecting styling.

My Roller Set Attempts

Another curlformer attempt. I used Jane Carter Wrap and Roll. Still not where I wanted it to be...

Trying a rollerset with my magnetic rollers, FAIL lol. This is when I decided to just clip my ends instead...Still used the Wrap and Roll...

Curlformer set using IC Fantasia Gel. This was the new product I tried and liked it for the set. I realized though that in some parts, I didn't put enough gel. I'm so use to Kinky Curling Custard where you a little goes a long way so I was way stingy with the product. So I actually decided to try again the next day, except....

I opted to not only use curlformers, but flexi rods to compare the results between the two. results...

So, I was really happy with these results! This is my set from yesterday. Finally getting somewhere! The truth is, the flexi rods and curlformers don't seem to give me a huge difference in results, especially when I separated and fluffed out. You can't tell which ones I used. Now my issue is perserving these curls. I used a bonnet to sleep with and they kinda fell flat =( not sure what to do about that one....