The Perfect Twist Out! New Year, New Regimen?

So on thursday before New Years I decided to rollerset my hair. I've attempted roller setting my natural hair before and it usually comes out good.... except for in my curlier textures where it just looks like smushed up, stretched out curls. This time I decided I was going to try using end wraps on the ends of my roller set to try and get them to come out straight. So using my Motions Foam Wrap only, because I wasn't sure if I was going to straighten my hair after, I roller set my hair using end wraps and sat under the dryer. About an hour later, this is what I was looking like...

 
My hair came out really soft and fluffy and the ends were bone straight! I loved that my hair was still so full but not overly huge and overwhelming. I decided to silk wrap it before going to sleep and instead of flatironing it, I wore a bun for 2 days (faking my hair into a ponytail and tucking it under). For the new year of course I didn't just want to wear my hair in some little mediocre bun, so with little time I decided to do my normal 6  two-strand flat twists using Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango butter and Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Hold Smoothie, sealing my ends with Jamaican Black Castor Oil. The next morning I took off my bonnet, used jojoba oil to separate, and I've been doing the same thing every night since December 31st....
The crazy thing is, my scalp usually feels the need to be washed like every three days but since deep conditioning and rollersetting, both my hair and my scalp still feel clean, hasn't started itching really, and doesn't feel weighed down or greasy, just healthy and moisturized. I'm actually going to see if I can stretch this twist out for another week.

 For the first time since I've been natural I would say I feel like I've had perfect hair. I've been so in love with my twist outs since roller setting first and so has everyone else... Do I hear a new reggie for the new year? I'm always super busy but I definitely will be putting time aside to roller set and flat twist my hair as a regimen to see if it'll help me retain length and keep the split ends and single strand knots at bay. It was a lot of work to roller set my hair I'd say but I feel like it'll be totally worth it. I'm really close to shoulder length so I'm hoping to be close to collarbone length by summer.  

Oh, the twist out? 

 Tuesday's Twist Out

My hair today!

My hair today is actually the product of about 12 single 2 strand twists because I didn't feel like doing flat twists when retwisting. I would say I definitely like the outcome of the flat twists better as it gives me better definition and stretch, especially in the roots. My roots are a little froey today, but I still love it!

What do you think? Would you try rollersetting before your twist outs?   

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!

Hair Crush: Kelis

Long, short, straight or curly, brightly colored or dark and lovely, Kelis' hair is awesome. Other cool things about her: She's a Grammy-nominated artist, a singer-songwriter, plays instruments, and is from Harlem!  I don't listen to her music like that, but it's really hard not to pay attention to her because of how fun and creative her hair (and make up!) always looks. I think those with natural hair love her too; a quick google search reveals blogs gushing over her TWA and curls. When I think about being bold and cool, she immediately comes to mind. If I ever cut my hair short (wink) Kelis would definitely be my inspiration. There are so many looks to admire of hers, sad that I can only include a few to keep this post short!

I love this color and cut!

What are your favorite Kelis looks??

Monday's TWA Twist - Out Pompadour Updo

 On Sunday night I washed my hair, detangled and put it in 5 flat twists, done with Care Free Curl Instant Moisturizer, Shea Moisture curl enhancing smoothie, and Eco Styler Olive Oil gel. The next morning I untwisted and wasn't really loving the way my hair was hanging so I came up with this out of the blue...

 I loved the definition of the curls in the front so I decided to make a side hump with it. I then figured I could do two rolls up the back so i just split it with my fingers and started rolling upwards and inwards, pinning as I rolled. When i got to the top I added a little gel to the edges and brushed it back for a smoother effect, and folded the hair behind the hump over itself and the sprouts of hair coming out of the rolls. This took me like 5 minutes because I was in a rush so I'm sure i can do it better and I may try again tomorrow, or some type of rendition of this. I wish I could have gotten a photo of what I was wearing that day but I threw in a photo of with my shirt and necklace.
I just have to take a moment to give a "Woop! Woop!" for bargain shopping because I was wearing a silk vintage Bloomingdales shirt which I paid $6 for at Salvation Army, a necklace I think I remember paying about $10 for at Forever21, and Cheap Monday boots that are $115 online which I got for $29.99 in store at Urban outfiiters! I love having the look I want for less.
Back to my hair... I'm just really trying to retain some length, keep it moisturized, wear my scarf at night and protective style a little so here's one of my feeble attempts... Of course someone said I look like Janelle Monae, Lol.

(excuse the mean mug, that was my 'trying to be incognito so no one would catch me snapping pics of myself in the bathroom face,' lol.)

What do you think of this as a conservative hairstyle for work?

Avocado Deep Conditioner & Hair Updates

I don't know if I've shared this yet, but ever since I came back from Tampa 4 weeks ago, my hair has been acting a little funky; it's been drier and there's some breakage and I'm positive it was the water down there as well as the up-and-down temperatures here in NYC. I've been trying to restore my hair and I think it's getting back to normal. I've been washing my hair twice a week (usually Sundays and Wednesdays) and using Aphogee Two Minute Re-constructor every other wash day which seems to be doing it's job but nothing to dance about. My shedding is normal and I'm not seeing so many "short hairs" so I think progress is being made.

This past washday (Sunday) I decided  to deep condition with Avocado. Avocado is said to be great for hair and excellent for your body as well, which is just as important. I mixed it with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Honey, left it on my hair for about an hour.

 There are other avocado recipes that use mayo and coconut milk, but I didn't feel like mixing that in my hair. Turns out that this recipe worked just fine; my hair was fully moisturized and my natural shine is on full blast. I set my hair in some curl formers using Jane Carter Wrap and Roll for a "soft curl" look, and fluffed it out a bit. I didn't care much for having "defined" curls this time around.

Also I found something to cover my ears for the cold and thought it looked cute with my curls. I bought it in SoHo, in this little market on Broadway Saturday night when I realized that my ears were freezing and that I would be out all night.

Have you guys tried an Avocado Deep Conditioner?

Hair Memories: Males Helping You With Haircare?

I remember a few times as a kid where my mother hadn't braided my hair and sent me to my father's house in Brooklyn. I grew up Muslim and mostly had my hair covered, but my hair still had to be neatly groomed to fit a scarf over my head!

 Age 8 with one of my younger sisters, "N"

I've always had a lot of hair and it seemed to frighten my father whenever he had to manage it by either ponytails or braids, neither which he could do! Once when I was about 6, we stood in front of the full length mirror trying to pull all my hair back. I was annoyed because what he was doing was NOT how my mother or Nana did it; he was using Vaseline and water to slick my strands back, and by that I mean that he "sprinkled" water on my head with vaseline just sitting there on top; and I have no idea what he was trying to use as a ponytail holder. Am I doing this right? he kept asking. Eventually I shoo'd his hands out of my hair and took matters into my own hands and decided to do my own ponytail. Hey - it was better then him trying to deal with my hair!

To this day, my father does not deal with hair. My younger brothers have thick bouncy wavy/curly hair and he keeps it cut low; when one of my other sisters "A" - who has the same texture as mine but with larger curls - was younger, he would always ask me to put it in braids because he had no idea what to do with it ("A" also tried to convince my dad at age 10 to let her have a relaxer, and he would've had I not explained to him what a relaxer was). The point is my father seems mystified and bewildered about haircare with three girls, and while he marvels at how nice it looks, I will forever remember his attempts that could've made me bald.

Since I'm a "grown-up" now I do my own hair. Occasionally Mr. Smooth helps me wash and comb it, and he used to help me take my box braids and twists out. I told him that if we were to procreate, hair care for the rugrats would probably fall on me but that he needs to have some skills so that the poor children don't look back on their childhood pictures and remember that their dad did that to them.

Do any of you have memories of Dads or Uncles trying to do your hair? If you have kids, do you let their fathers or other males in the family tackle hair care? Share with us!

Sisterly Advice: Keeping Natural Hair Moisturized in the Winter

One of my sisters, who's in college in Boston, called me not to long ago telling me that she wanted to deviate from her "box-braids routine" and wear her hair "out" for a little while and wanted to know what products she could use to keep her hair moisturized. I'm always excited when one of my sisters or cousins (and even my fiance's relatives) call to ask me what they should do or use on their hair, makes me feel like I may be doing something right with my haircare. I especially feel pleased when this particular sister calls me about hair stuff because I'm the one who convinced her not to ever relax it and promised I'd show her how to "rock what she got"-which is how I became interested in blogging about hair in the first place!

Anyway, I texted her a basic answer so that she could refer back to it later and then I thought I should also post about it, because it might help other inquiring minds. So again, the question is: How Can I keep My Hair Moisturized in the Winter? What Products Should I Use?
My Answer: To keep your hair from drying out, it's not just having the right product but the art of sealing your hair. This basically involves using a water-based product (ex. conditioner), and locking in the moisture with an oil (ex. coconut) or butter (ex. shea).

My sister also expressed not wanting to have to wet her hair everyday for moisture - after all it's winter time and no one wants to walk outside with wet hair. I recommended that she spritz her hair as needed with a home made mixture (in her case, she's always been good with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and water) or buying a spritz. I personally swear by Oyin's Frank Juice, but she may want something she can buy locally.

At this point, I turn it over to you folks. Any product recommendations for my sister or tips you want to share for winter hair care? She'll be watching this post!