Hairstyle of the Week: Bridesmaid Edition

For the last few weeks I have been searching (and posting) about my relentless search for a hairstyle for my close friend Rockies wedding. Her wedding was this weekend (she looked gorgeous and we had a *hands in the air* shoes off*dance till you sweat* soca, reggae, and house music pumping* what do you mean it's over?* where's the after party?* amazing  time) and I definitely wanted to share the look I ended up rocking with you all. SADLY my camera was submerged in a small puddle of water over night the day before the wedding (tragic...I know) and stopped functioning for most of the wedding. I am still in the process of gathering other people's pics...but in the mean time I can share the ones I took of myself after the wedding!

 The hair style was actually  found in a hair magazine (I believe Hype Hair but I need to double check) and suggested by Rockie.  It is is basically a typical Mohawk  consisting of cornrows and twists. The twist and some of the cornrows were done with Marley Hair so I could have the desired length and fullness I needed to create this style. Afterwards ( my hair was done by one of the braiders in a African Hair Braiding Salon in my neighborhood) I pinned the twists up and voila. This weekend I will do a step by step pic tutorial to show you all how I pinned it up, but it is really a lot simpler than it looks.

What do you think?

Hair Update: Mohawkesque Roll and Pin

If I ever shared with you all how long it took me to come up with the titles of my posts you all would laugh.....HARD! I find that to be the most difficult part of blogging.

Anyhow... On to the topic at hand! My hair!



I need to get a tripod... seriously

This weekend I finally got around to washing my hair (I know I am living dangerously and totally breaking the "thou shall always have a clean scalp rule").  Feeling bold and dying for a new look I found myself at the Beauty Supply Store with an idea on my mind and money to burn! 

Yup, that's what I came back with. Marley Hair, a tiny soft bristle brush (to slick those edges), and a jar of Jam (because I swore years ago that Jam was the truth, and produced the slickest puffs). My plan? To create a high bun for myself and Rockie that evening. While I have no pictures of the results from either attempts I will say this. Rockies came out OK. However , when I tried to create the bun in my own hair it was TRAGIC! Mainly because I have no idea how to work with Marley hair and make it look realistic. It was so bad I didn't have the courage to take or post pictures, so you all are going to have to take my word for it!

In the end I went back to one of  my classic looks and flat twisted and twisted my hair until I was satisfied. See the results below!

Stay tuned for High Bun Attempt Take 2...hopefully in the near future!

Hair Style of the Week: Update...Kinky Twists!

This hair update is LONG overdue folks, my apologies. The weekend after I returned from Trini I went to my local hair braiding shop and sacrificed hours of my life for these, kinky twists! I needed a break from my hair and I am pretty sure my hair welcomed the break from me. ; 0 )

I went to the hair shop armed with one 3/4"x 3/4" picture of what I wanted my hair to look like and three packs of Marley hair. Honestly looking back I should have known better than to only have that one tiny picture but I was hopeful and blinded by my excitement about changing my look. What I ended up with was the picture above. Not at all like what anticipated and extremely tight. For a week I did everything in my power to loosen the cornrows. I sprayed water, slathered my edges in shea butter and essential oils and by the end of the week I was simply unbraiding the braids and rebraiding them loosely to the best of my ability (sounds like a hot mess...that's because it was!)

Forced Smile..

Just looking at this picture hurts!

Let me address the obvious question. Why would I let anyone braid my hair tightly? Especially when I am trying to preserve my edges. I didn't just sit there passively and let her braid my hair however she felt like. The majority of my time in the hair salon I told her she was braiding too tightly. I stopped her over and over again and despite my warnings she continued to braid the only way she knew how, tight! Yes, I had the good sense to take my braids out a week later but I think about all the children who were also in the shop to get their hair braided that day. What did they do? Traction alopecia- a gradual hair loss that is a direct result of a pulling force being applied to hair- has such a high prevalence in women of color and wearing hair extensions and braids tightly is one of the causes. It's time to stop sacrificing our edges for the sake of "neat" hair.

We all remember this telling picture of Naomi Campbell's edges.

How do we pass on this information to the hair braiders all across New York City?  

A week after my first attempt at kinky twists I went to a braiding salon that I was familiar with (I only took the cornrows out but left the kinky twists in) and explained exactly what I wanted my hair to look like. I also explained that I did not want too much tension on my sensitive edges and asked that the cornrows start with my own hair first and the extension hair gradually added in. Here are the final results:

So much better! Not only is there less tension on my edges but with more individual twists I have more styling options.

Maintenance:

• Although I know that many people wash their hair while in extensions (twists and/or braids) I have decided that I will not wash my hair while I have these twist installed. My rationale? These twists are thick and would take a while to dry once washed. Walking around with wet hair is not an option for me especially since the weather lately has been so unpredictable.
•  I plan on using my Huetiful Steamer to cleanse my scalp and restore moisture back to my strands every two weeks.
•  I use Jane Carter Nourish and Shine on my scalp and edges. I also use Vatika Oil at the base of the Kinky Twists every few days.
•  I still cover my hair nightly with my Satin Cap to keep my twists neat and retain moisture.
• Every night I rub my edges with Rosemary Oil to increase circulation and stimulate hair growth.

I plan on keeping these kinky twist in for about a 5-6 weeks and may even have them installed again before the summer. Have you tried a new protective style lately?

Hair Style of the Week: Inspired by Meechy Monroe

This week’s hair style was inspired by Meechy Monroe’s Roll and Tuck style.  I tried it on my hair and it didn’t work out according to plan. My hair refused to be neither rolled or tucked. I had the most miserable feeling as I tried to shove hairpins in an attempt to force my hair to cooperate.  In the wake of this failing, I opted to get a little more creative by adding twists and flat twists to my hair in a similar shape as the style. Afterwards, I rolled and pinned my twists and voila, I accomplished what seemed insurmountable at first.  In the end, it seemed pretty simple and quick to do. I'm not sure when the twist styles will end!

Hair Style of The Week: Style Fail!

A few days ago I was on Meechy Monroe's blog  looking at the amazing pictures from her post on the Naturally Flyy Detroit Meet-Up and I saw this picture.

Source

It was love at first sight for me. A new protective style that I could add to my arsenal. After washing, deep conditioning, leave-in conditioning, and sealing my hair (btw...I am loving Vatika oil) I got started. I was able to quickly flat twist the sides of my hair with little problem. As I tucked and rolled section by section of the remainder of my hair I felt a sense of doom.  My hair at the time was still pretty damp and each section looked like a wavy, puffy, undefined mess! Nothing like the above picture!  Maybe the sections were to small. Maybe my hair needed to be dry and stretched a bit before attempting this. Either way it was an EPIC FAIL. I didn't even take pictures. How did I fix it?   I twisted each rolled section and then pinned that up. This time around there was no beginners luck for me. : (

Front

The side...looking a little uncomfortable in this pic : )

The other side

The back...I don't think it looks that crazy in person. ; )

That's all for now...