LDFH Protective Style: Flat Twist Side Updo

I've been in the market for a new job or two, and not sure of how I should be wearing my hair to go about interviewing. I know the world is still taking in all the naturals, and I don't want my hair to ever be a reason as to why I may not have gotten a job. I love my natural hair and texture and refuse to straighten it unless I want to, so I wanted to experiment with an up do that would look professional enough and still showcase my fun personality!


With my latest post about switching my focus on this blog to styling and haircare for my low density, fine hair (LDFH), I thought of how flat twists can be done loosely to give the illusion of fuller hair, and came up with this style! I had done a flat twist style on my blown out hair a while back, which also came into mind while searching for inspiration.


I wasn't crazy about the twist in the front going from ear to ear, so I decided to do a little tweaking of sorts to add a side part. I then also started to play with the idea of the front twists hanging as another alternative!

Speaking of density, I'm sure you can see here that my crown area has far more density that my edges. My edges are so fine and not at all dense.

This style is only 6 flat twists in total and took me all of 10 minutes to do. I did nothing intricate with the parting, just tried to do straight lines all over to the side, starting with diagonally staggered parts (what gave the sort of zig zag part effect).

 I also tried to do the twists as loose as possible for a voluminous effect, especially to create a pompadour type of effect in the front, then just twisted all of the twists into a little side bun/pin curl of sorts... One more fave thing about this style? The twists are so loose, it literally takes a minute to take them all down! This really helps with being a style chameleon and all, making it quick and easy to switch up my styles.

What do you think of this flat twisted up do? Would you rock it?

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?!

Fashion Week: Cotte D' Armes Presentation

How adorable is her headpiece?! I was so in love with it... like I wanted to snatch and run! lol

Stopping to take a quick flick with the team.

I came across this super cute chica snapping photos and was in love with her mod style...

Turns out she's an awesome style blogger who shot some amazing images of our show! Here are some awesome images from her blog

I love all the snaps she shot of me!

Don't you just want everything from this line?! I love Unisex clothing!

 

And now back to my crappy iPhone pics and on to the after party, lol

Designers Coco & Breezy  & their super cool mohawks (they're both natural)

I was definitely making sure to snap all the most fashionable naturals for you all!

Summer Natural Hair Routine

Thanks for those who voted in our poll about having a hair routine!

57% have one
28 % don't
14% are still trying to find one

I posted this question out of curiosity: I was having trouble with a set summer hair routine because I'm often not sure what to do with my hair, especially since this time around I have more hair then I have ever had to work with, which is both a blessing and problematic for me. I want to wear it loose all summer (as in no twists or braided styles), but there will be days of high humidity and stormy rain, bbqs, picnics, baby showers, and work-related events. I don't want to use a lot of product and I don't want to spend hours prepping and priming because frankly, I don't have time for that.


For the last couple of weeks I've been washing my hair up to 3 times a week, deep conditioning once a week, and using a combo of water/oil/gel or conditioner/oil as my leave in. Sometimes I set my hair with bantu-knots, most times I let my hair airdry in a bun or two braids, and my go-to styles have been pulling my hair back with a banana clip, or buns. I've been pretty busy with work, wedding planning, and a film project and this routine has been pretty low maintenance. My hair seems to be doing well. Now the issue I have is I actually want to do other things to my hair that are a bit more creative and interesting for the summer, but of course, time won't allow. I express myself through my appearance and since I can't indulge too much (because I have an "office" job) my hair is the main thing I have. I don't want to end up being the girl with long hair and a ponytail, it's just not me.

Anyway, here are the list of products I've been using which will probably be my summer staples:

Ouidad Climate Control Defrizzing Shampoo
Herbal Essence Hello Hydration - Leave in
Aubrey Organics Glycogen Protein Balancing Conditioner - DC
Vatika Oil - Leave-in, seal
Eco Styler Gel - styler
Ouidad Climate Control Heat & Humidity Gel
Aveda Anti-Humectant Pomade - only a little for some of my hair

And here is today's second day hair, after going through my routine Monday night and throwing my hair into a couple of braids to dry in:

What are your summer routines?

Today's Style: My Own Pompadour!

I know I said this would probably be a boring hair week for me, but after seeing my fellow co-blogger/bestie show off her updo with a pompadour I got inspired to do something similar. I have an event to attend tonight and I want to look cute without having to manipulate my curls too much, and a style that wouldn't take so much time. So this morning I got in front of the mirror and in about five minutes I had this style:

This is my version of a pompadour with banana clip, just like SP's in yesterday's post. Basically I just took some hair in the front and gathered it to one side with a little "hump" secured with a bobby-pin. Then I secured the rest of my hair with a banana clip. I'm very pleased with the results! I'm sure anyone who does this style can make it a little sleeker with some gel or something on the edges, I'm just really not the "sleek" type so the fuzzy hairs don't bother me.

Who says that natural hair blogs and youtube videos aren't needed anymore for inspiration? And in this case, your very own blog can help you out!

Long TWA Style: Banana Clip Up-do with Twisted Pompadour

In my latest efforts to make sure to hold my TWA ladies down, I decided to look back through my computer to see what I hadn't posted over these pasts TWA months when I came across and remembered this super cute style.
I wore this to work when I was still interning at Wilhelmina and they were in love with my hair that day!
How did I achieve this style?

• My hair was banded overnight in 2 ponytails after washing, to dry and stretch my curls. 
• In the morning, I unbanded my hair, parted and separated out the section I wanted to use as a pompadour, and proceeded to apply Eco Styler gel and brush the edges and the sides back.
• Next, I put in my banana clip. The easiest way to get all your hair in, is to gather and hold all of your hair as if you were going to use a scrunchie to put it in a ponytail, then put in one side, then bring around the other and snap closed.
• I then took my pompadour section, added a little eco styler gel for shine and to tame frizz. I stretched the section of hair to the side and proceeded to to do a loose 2-strand flat twist.
• I tucked the end of it under and inside of the pompadour, pinned to my liking, and voila! Style! lol
•  It's also a style I really love because you can always easily wear it again, Just remove the banana clip when you come home, tie it down to sleep, and replace your banana clip the next day! Simple as Pie!

This style is perfect for going out, formal or not. You can embellish the sides of your banana clip puff or add an accent to your pomadour for a formal occasion. You can rock a smooth look to the office or go to your job interview in style.
This style can be worn to the club for a fuss free night, or (as it kind of was in high school for me) an easy every day go to style.
I would say it takes about 5-7 minutes to achieve this style and it's a great way to fake it until you make it for us short haired ladies, as a banana clip always makes my hair seem fuller and longer. I use the Goody banana clips (large ones) and they haven't failed me through out the years, plus they don't break easily.

So Long TWA Ladies, would you rock this style? Would you say this would be a Formal, Casual, or Go- to style for you?

I hope this helps!
(My hair was between 4 and 6 inches long for this style)

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!