Life After a Breakup

As many of you know, I recently ended a love-hate relationship with my Tangle Teezer. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make in my life...tear. It was so tempting at first that I had to hide it from myself so that I wouldn't use it to detangle. So for the past couple of weeks I have been using my "handleless" comb and my Goody Jojoba Infused Brush. Out of the two, I TOTALLY prefer the Goody Jojoba Infused Brush because it's kinda like the Tangle Teezer in the sense that it can define my curls while I'm detangling. I don't really like the "handleless" comb because it basically picks my hair out...which is why my hair was looking a hot mess when I got back from Vegas. But now I can proudly say that my hair is BAACCCKK !! Lately, I've been trying to get back into doing twistouts...sidenote: I really loved the way my hair looked with twistouts when it was shorter. Hopefully, I can stick with these twistouts and stop doing so many wash n gos and ponytails. 

Click Here to see the " Twistout on Wash n Go Hair" video

Hairstyles in Vegas

I'm finally back home after having a wonderful time in Vegas (video coming soon). Since it was my first time in Vegas I wasn't sure how my hair would react to the dry weather so I made sure to pack the essentials. Fortunately, many of the horror stories that people told me about what happened to their hair while they visited Vegas did not happen to me. While in Vegas I wore two hairstyles, a high bun and a wash and go (defined curls) and I have to say my hair wasn't dry or brittle at all. I even tried something that you probably shouldn't do, which was I defined my curls before I got into the pool. Yes, you read that right I put a whole BUNCH of gel in my hair just minutes before I got into the pool. Since it was the Palms hotel pool I didn't do any crazy swimming so only half of my hair got wet. Then the second "hair no-no" I did was I didn't shampoo my hair afterwards (and still  haven't) Can you say LAZY! But I did co-wash pretty much every time I wore a ponytail. 

Overall, I had a great time and should be posting a video of my adventures in Vegas soon!


Oh and check out my Twit pics to see the two celebrities that I saw =)

My Essentials for Vacationing with Natural Hair

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The Regimens...

I transitioned for nine months...

I Big CHOPPED on Dec. 13,2008

From 08-Feb. 09
My regimen from this time was pretty much not structured and because of that my hair stayed dry and I wasn't using the right products (even though I thought I was). I was in love with using products like Sunsilk Captivating Curls and Herbal Essence Long Term Relationship because of the way they smelled.


---I co-washed everyday...morning and right before bed.
---I was kinda against shampooing so I shampooed maybe once or twice a month....but I was constantly co-washing so that kinda cleaned my hair
---Whenever I did shampoo I made sure to deep condition and detangle
---I had a bald spot in the front of my head from transitioning so I made a mixture of rosemary oil, shea butter, castor oil, and jojoba oil and every night I massaged that oil mixture onto my scalp and mainly that bald spot. Within a couple of months I saw growth and now THERE'S NO BALD SPOT!!!

====Main products used====

 Sunsilk conditioner and leave in, my shea butter mixture, my hair growth mixture, and that's all I remember

From the end of Feb 09- May 09
By this point I started to see growth and with more growth came more tangles. I noticed that I needed to start detangling more and I needed to do something so that I didn't have to walk in the freeze'n cold in the morning with wet hair.So I started twistin.


---I co-washed no more than twice a week.
---Shampooed once or every other week.
---Deep conditioned everytime I shampooed
---I TWISTED MY HAIR UP EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT AND WORE A TWISTOUT UNTIL FRIDAY....Sat. and Sun. were my off days.
---I started back taking my vitamins and biotin supplements. 
====Main products used====
Cantu Shea butter used for twistouts, and my shea butter mixture

From May 09-Aug 09
During this time I was on summer vacation and didn't feel like twisting my hair up every Sunday night so I pretty much wore a puff or a wash and go.


---Co-washed a lot 
---Shampooed, DC, and detangled once a week or every other week
---Every now and then I wore a twist out.

====Main products used====

Cantu Shea Butter, shea butter mixture, Aussie Moist conditioner, Clean Eco styler Gel, and Giovanni Direct Leave in

From Aug 09-Dec 09

By the time I went back to school my hair grew a lot and I could finally say I had some type of regimen. Because of the amount of growth I had I was able to start doing way more styles. And in Oct I was finally able to get a PONYTAIL...YAY click here to watch the video. 

---Co-washing became more of a style so I didn't do it a lot only for certain styles 

---Shampooed, DC, and detangled once a week

---Every other night I would either castor oil or my Wild Growth oil from Sally's and massaged my scalp

---By Nov. I started wearing medium sized twist as a protective style

====Main products used====

Eco styler Gel, Organic Root Stimulator Lock and Twist gel, castor oil, Wild Growth oil, Giovanni Direct Leave in, and Bed Head Moisture Maniac

From Jan.10

I finally started to find my staple products and finished putting the final stages on my current regimen. There's nothing really major to talk about. 

My current regimen:

---Again I don't co-wash a lot only if my hair is dry, I am about to switch styles, or I just feel like it.

---Shampoo and detangle once a week

---I don't deep condition any more only if it is a protein deep conditioner

---I have trimmed my hair multiple times since I've been natural.... so I guess I trim maybe every 4-6 months

====Current products being used====

Sheamoisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Moisture Retention Shampoo, Eco Styler Argan and Olive oil gel, Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding, Pantene Curly Conditioner, and Tresemme Conditioners

Nothin' Like A Good Hair Day

It seems like lately I've been having bad hair days like everyday. But today I must say I was really feelin' how my hair looked. I liked it because it was stretched but stringy and I was loving the definition (considering this was 4 day old hair). I switched it up an wore my hair pulled back with a leopard print headband. I originally pulled it up to so I could take a shower but then I started thinking of wearing it pulled up but didn't because I didn't like the back of it. Pulling it up helped to stretch the curls, so all I had to do was fix the top with some more gel and water. 

Braidout

Soorryy for the late post but here are the results of the braidout. I wasn't too happy with the results so I ended up wearing my hair pulled back into a ponytail for the week. As I look at these pictures I kinda like the results.

Lesson learned: I think next time I do a braidout I'm going to roll the ends with perm rods or flexi rods/rollers. 

Will it Work?

Every time I have good hair days with twistouts or wash n gos (defined curls) I always tell myself that I'm gonna start wearing my hair like that more often...of course that usually doesn't last long. But in the last few months I have to say have been rockin' some successful twist n curls and wash n gos (defined curls) and I've wondered if I could really keep my hair healthy and in those styles. I have found that those styles are kinda like my protective style because I'll wear them for like a week. In addition there's less manipulation involved,it's versatile because I can always pull it back into a ponytail or something, and it's good for my edges because I don't have to brush them a lot.

Old Twist n Curl

Old Wash n Go

So what do you all think??? Will it work...I'm going to see and keep you all updated. 

Look I what I got!!!

As I type this post I am extremely excited and overjoyed. I bought the Ez Combs today...and they actually work. At least the little style that I did worked. I finally decided to get them because 1. they are really cheap at Ross and Marshall's and 2. they seem like you can do a lot of styles with them in a few minutes. Since it has only been like 30 minutes since I got in the house and popped one of them in my hair I can't do a full review (plus I didn't want to mess up my hair) but please believe once I get some time with these bad boys I will definitely let ya'll know how they work. Oh and the price was $ 2.99 at Ross and $ 3.99 at Marshall's.

 
Right now I can tell you all that it felt very comfortable and secure on my hair and removing it wasn't bad at all. Stay tuned =)

Do the DO.

Here's another variation of one of my favorite hairstyles. 

How it's done:
----Either stretch your hair or wet it up so that you can flat twist. (NOTE: if you don't know how to flat twist you can do the tuck and roll)
-----Then part your hair down the middle.
-----Next start to flat twist your hair going down on one side your hair until you reach the nape of your neck and STOP. Don't twist all the hair. 
-----Repeat the same steps on the other side.
-----Next grab the two twists and the loose hair left out in the middle and put into a ponytail.
-----Then start to roll the the ponytail upwards into a bun. Hold the bun in place and pin that sucka down :)

And there you have a quick and super cute protective style.

Twistout with Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding

I decided to use my Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding for a twistout (which I haven't done in a million years it seems).


Products used: 
Giovanni Direct Leave-in
Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding


I used my Denman D41 brush for some curl definition 

I'm truly falling in love with my Curly Pudding. It's great for wash and gos, twistouts, and probably much more =)

Disclaimer: I hate how these pictures don't capture how AMAZING this twistout came out. I promise it looks better in person and it's not as frizzy as it looks on here  :(

Donut Anyone???

Here's another simple, professional, quick, versatile, easy, on the go, and everything like that protective hairstyle. giggle.

I have been trying to do one of these buns ever since I was able to get a ponytail but for some reason they always ended up looking odd and not what I wanted. 


I used to do donut buns a lot when I was relaxed with the sock bun. So I'm SUPER EXCITED about my neat little bun. BUT the only issue I have with it is the size. it's too little. I want a bigger, thicker, and a little looser bun. So I'll keep working on it, I'm sure all I have to do is just pin the hair down farther than what I did this time.


Products used:
~Co-washed w/ Bed Head Self Absored Conditioner
~Giovanni Direct Leave-In
~Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel (MY LOVE)


I'm keeping this it in for at least 5 days (as I'm typing this, it is day 3)




Sidenote:
I would also like to add that I think I have finally mastered the art of waves. Like the bun, I have also been trying to master how to get those gorgeous waves that we naturals produce oh so lovely. With a little help from my mother (who by the way is au naturale now!!!) and inspiration from my Big Bro, I get sick sea thinking about how crazy their hair waves up. ok that was a lil lame.lol, I think I got it now =)