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?

Hairstyle of the Week!-Pinned Up and Protected

Hey Peeps!


It has been a while since I have written a Hairstyle of the Week post. Months, actually. Lately I haven't done anything exciting with my hair. Most mornings I wake up and after moisturizing my hair I grab a few bobby pins and roll and tuck my hair until it looks half decent and go on my merry way.  Despite the fact that my ends were tucked away the majority of the time  I was still experiencing dry hair and more recently hair breakage (my guess is that the daily bobby pinning began reeking havoc on my ends and began causing breakage). This  weekend I decided it was time to take charge of my hair once again and I did a protein treatment with ApHogee Two Step Protein Treatment and created a protective twist style to give my strands a rest.


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Voila! : )

Ok, so what did I use to create this style? Please see the pic below:

I know it may look like a lot (and I just noticed one of the products that I used is missing from the picture) but I assure you that each product had a specific and necessary purpose.

Wash & Condition:

• Miss Jessie's Super Sudsy Slip Shampoo---I apologize for my constant raving about this product BUT..... I love this stuff. It has made washing my hair such a great experience.
• Joico Moisture Recovery Conditioner- Another new found love. This coupled with Miss Jessie's is a tangled girls dream! Plus it is PH balanced, can't beat that.
• ApHogee Two Step Protein Treatment-- I know I have mentioned another ApHogee product in the past but the Two Step Protein Treatment was a staple product for me when I was pressing my hair religiously. In fact the bottle I am using now is the same one I was using during that time period in my life. This protein treatment promises to stop breakage in its tracks. I admit it is a bit alarming when you apply it to your hair because it hardens quickly  but for the results it is worth the scare!
• ApHogee Balancing Moisturizer (not pictured)--  a must have when using ApHogee's Two Step Protein Treatment. This product adds much needed moisture to your strands after the extensive douse of protein.

Leave-In Conditioners:

• Kera Care Natural Textures Leave in Conditioner-- With a PH of 5 this conditioner leaves my hair feeling extremely soft and seals my cuticles. Another must!
• Vatika Oil-- Coconut oil has been used to moisturize strands for years. I always use Vatika Oil to ensure that my hair is moisturized from roots to tip.
• Jane Carter's Nourish and Shine- I love the way this product smells and moisturizes my hair. When I am not suing it for styling  I use it to seal in all the benefits of the Vatika Oil and Kera Care.

Style:

• Kera Care Natural Textures Defining Custard For Curls and Coils-- I haven't used this often since I purchased it but it creates amazing twists and makes my hair feel soft and fluffy. It is also PH balanced with a PH of 5.
• Castor Oil- Lately I have been playing around with Castor Oil in my hair to help battle the dryness I was experiencing with my tuck and rolls. This time around I decided to use it on my scalp and the base of my hair because after the protein treatment my roots felt dry, plus I have read that it stimulates hair growth.
• African Formula Super Grow Hair Gel- I have used this gel every day since I purchased it to slick the edges of my tuck and rolls. This weekend I used it to create my flat twists and at the base of the twists in the front of my hair (to ensure that they stayed in place). I am going to do a review on this gel shortly so be on the lookout!

See, each  product has a purpose. More importantly my hair feels great and has a healthy sheen (some might say shine or bling) to it. I love this combo and I believe I will be using it for a while.

Here are some more pics of the style:

The back....

Want to recreate this? It's simple! The back of my hair was twisted in medium sized twists. The front of my hair was also twisted but in slightly smaller twists for more volume. I then flat twisted (4 on each side) the sides of my hair. After all the twists and flat twist were completed I divided the back of my hair in half and rolled each side up and pinned. I kept pinning until all of the remaining twists were at the crown of my head then I simply rolled the remaining twists backwards and pinned.

Still seem complicated? I received a flip cam for my birthday so  hair style how to videos are on the horizon. ; )

What are your staple hair products?

Style Of the Week: Who does your hair?

"Who does your hair?"


Whenever someone asks me this I find it hard not to smile. I must admit it feels good to have someone implicitly acknowledge the hard work, time, and money that I exhaust on this journey. I dedicate hours of my time to caring for my hair and when someone notices it serves as strong motivation to continue. This weekend in particular was a tough one because I was not only exhausted from my six-day work week, but my hair was extremely tangled. I wore my hair out in a banana clip on Friday and Saturday and neglected to do a much needed finger detangling session on Saturday night. Combine that neglect with some soap and water and you will have a disaster to deal with like I did. After washing and deep conditioning my hair, I parted it and detangled each section with a heavy dosing of Knot Today and my very own nimble fingers. It took a while longer than it would have ordinarily; however, I was able to complete my hair by dusk (I started the whole process at about 11am). I twisted my hair using Shea Moisture Curl Enancing Smoothie and Vatika Oil. My hair was pretty damp for most of this process, so the twists were shrunken and not as long as they are usually. I also made a few flat twists to my edges as well. (I don't like to twist the hair near my hairline because it’s shorter and it doesn’t stay twisted for long. Plus the flat twists keep me from the craving to re-twist my very sensitive edges). For style, I pinned my twists into a tuck and roll in an effort to keep the hairstyle simple yet protected.

I know...I know...It always looks the same from the front!

Side-view. Take note of the noticeably shorter twists...I decided to cut off all my straight ends.

The back..all tucked and rolled away! 

Style of the Week

It's official, I am in a style rut. I am not sure what to do with my hair other than a combination of individual twists and flat twists because I need to ensure that the ends of my hair are protected. As always I am open for suggestions and ideas. Without further delay here is this weeks do:

My style inspiration: Nazri Segero

It's a loose interpretation : ).

The Front...

Side/back profile

The back: I created a flat twist going upward with the individual twists in the back section of my hair.

My hair before I pinned up my twists. 

I apologize for the picture quality of this one. 

Style of the Week

This week I decided to keep it simple to alleviate some stress. Last week I attempted the tuck and roll, which I showed in some pictures:

The Tuck and Roll 

 However, whenever I took down my hair to re-moisturize it I had the hardest time pinning it back up. I ended up putting my hair in a low pony tail, which received a lot of compliments, but is all but protective. I scoured YouTube for protective style inspiration, which turned out to be unsuccessful. In the end I settled on a combination of flat twists on one side and some medium sized twists on the other. In an effort to add a protective element, I pinned up the twist to one side and pin curled the side that was left out. On Monday morning I unpinned the twists and I was pleased. 

Flat twists...

Pinned up twists in the back...

This method proved to be simple, effective, and hat friendly (it was like 2 degrees in NYC). I’ll probably rock a twist-out from these twists this weekend. I’m still on the hunt for next week’s style myself. What are some hair styles that you’re considering in the upcoming week?