Bantu Knot Out w/ Side Braids

This is a great style for all you transitioners out there!

Length Check October 2011

WOW so this post is waaayyyy over do. Nowadays i have been forcing myself not to force myself to blog when i don’t feel like it.. ~shrugs~. I give your better content and i get more rest in a day. Do you have any idea how mucyh crap i do during the week? But PLEASE dont let me bore you with the details of my life.

So far, im loving the progress. I just bought a new flat iron (Babyliss Pro) and the results are in. I love this flat iron. I love it so much that i actually took time out of my busy life to reflat iron my hair. Do you have any idea how much work that is for me?

I really need to buy a marker shirt because i am grazing bra strap length but these pics do me no justice soo it seems like im lying about that….im not tho

SEE WHAT I MEAN! These pics make it look like im not even armpit length… ~sigh~ I digress. Gotta buy a new camera, gotta by a new car, gotta by a mac, gotta buy every damn thing.. ~kicks over computer~ DAMN THIS EXPENSIVE LIFE! I’m pretty garbage for this because yall deserve better pics and better pics you shall have!

Anyway, check the gallery below ladies.

Hair length: Currently grazing Bra Strap Length

How Mama Dukes Regrew Hair Edges In 5 Months!

Hola!

Black women seem to suffer from a common problem which are thinning edges. I am not saying that its exclusive to our race but we do wear weaves and braids more than any race of people i know in existence in this day and edge.

Take my mother for example. She told me that since she was a kid , her edges have been in horrible condition and to make matters worse, she wore weaves, tight weaves for a while. I spent my summer at her house and over the summer, i learned just how damaged her edges were.

She said she didn’t want to go natural and honestly, i wasn’t trying to convince her to do so. I told her all i cared about was her hair being healthy and i wasn’t trying to pressure her into transitioning. Well…. she asked me to put a perm and her head and i told her no especially after i saw her edges! I told her hair was not ready to handle a chemical service and it need some serious TLC. Again, let me reiterate that i was not trying to get her to transition, i simply wanted her to have healthy hair.

Fast forward…. I started thinking of ways that i knew to grow out thinning hair and from what i can tell just by looking at it, her edges were suffering from traction alopecia.

Traction alopecia is a form of alopecia, or gradual hair loss, caused primarily by pulling force being applied to the hair.^{[1]:761[2]:645} This commonly results from the sufferer frequently wearing his/her hair in a particularly tight ponytail, pigtails, or braids. It is also seen occasionally in long-haired toy dogs whose owners use barrettes to keep hair out of the dogs’ faces.

Traction alopecia is a substantial risk in hair weaves, which can be worn either to conceal hair loss, or purely for cosmetic purposes. The former involves creating a braid around the head below the existing hairline, to which an extended-wear hairpiece, or wig, is attached. Since the hair of the braid is still growing, it requires frequent maintenance, which involves the hairpiece being removed, the natural hair braided again, and the piece snugly reattached. The tight braiding and snug hairpiece cause tension on the hair that is already at risk for falling out. Traction Alopecia is one of the most common causes of hair loss in African American women. Although the aforementioned style is one of the culprits, hairstyles such as dreadlocks and single (extension) braids can also have the same effect.^[3] Men and women who have suffered from Traction Alopecia have found that the hair loss occurs most at the hair line – primarily around the temples and the sides of their heads.^{[4] (SOURCE)}

Now don’t get it twisted. Weaves are a great protective style when done RIGHT and not put in too tight. But if you do it wrong, it a can backfire on you and well the above happens.

Well this is what mama dukes hairline looked like when we started

So i felt like ….

Originally my plan was to take her out her weaves and treat it but umm she wasn’t having that. So i told her that she could have the weaves as long as i did them and as long as she still applied the Jamaican Black Castor Oil at EVERY night. She agreed.

So the plan in short was JBCO (Jamaican black castor oil) every night and moisturize and seal the rest of her hair while it was in the tracks. Well when we took it down, we did a full day of hair treatments. Shampoo, protein treatment, deep condition, moisturize and seal and style.

She came to the conclusion that she didn’t want another weave in and she just wanted to wear her hair. She saw me twisting mine and looked at me…… i looked at her back…… and she looked at me some more and proceeded to say …… “I want my hair like that”

-______- ……. yea i saw that coming.

She still had permed ends so i did my best to blend that end with the rest of it. I did cut some of the permed ends off but not all. She wore the twists for WEEKS but she did moisturize  and seal her hair really well during that time but she hated wash day.

Well i left in August i believe so she had me from June – August to help her care for her hair. Before i left, i showed her what to do and gave her the reigns. She still applied JBCO nightly and as far as i know, kept her wash days up.. lol.

You can purchase JBCO here

Well the proof is in the pudding because she sent me a picture of her edges because 5 MONTHS LATER this is what she texts me:

“Damn I’m Good!”

LOL! But no all jokes aside, i was kind of afraid she wouldn’t keep it up because i know she doesn’t like to do her hair. Well im proud of her and as much as she was like “Oh im not going natural” ….guess what… She had the remainder of her permed ends cut off and now she is completely and 100% percent natural.

~hits my dougie~

Cassia: The Strengthening Ayurvedic Treatment

What is Cassia Obovata?

• Cassia obovata is a plant with a golden-yellow dye molecule
• Cassia Obovata makes your hair shiny, healthy and strong.
• Cassia will make bleached, damaged blond hair thick and silky.
• Cassia will restore youthful golden color to dull or graying blond hair.

Cassia obovata powder looks very much like henna powder, but generally does not stain hair or hands. It is an excellent conditioner which makes hair glossy and thick, with a healthy scalp. When you mix this green leaf powder with warm water, it has a strong smell similar to a heap of warm mowed grass. If your powder stains your hair or hands yellow, it probably has some rhubarb root mixed into it.

Cassia obovata is also known as Senna obovata. Cassia and Senna are used often interchangeably in botanical texts. Do remember, though that Cassia, which is also called Senna, is NOT the Cassia, which is true Cinnamon. Just in case you weren’t confused enough already. For the purposes of this page, I’ll refer to Cassia/Senna as Cassia.

Cassia Obovata, harvested for use in hair, is grown in Egypt and Nubia. There are about 400 species of cassia around the world. Many of these species are used in folk medicines, as antifungals, antibacterials and laxatives, and were recorded in 9th and 10th century Arabic pharmacopoeia. Several Cassias traditionally used to cure fungal and bacterial infections have been tested and found to be highly effective against many microbes and fungi. The antimicrobial substance these cassias have in common is chrysophanic acid, an anthraqinone. Rhubarb root also has chrysophanic acid. Chysophanic acid, in its pure form is yellow, and if it is in high concentrations in rhubarb root or cassia, it may stain hair and skin yellow … thus it is often used in “blonde henna” (which is not henna, and is not blonde!)(Source)

Well I guess you’re wondering why all the scientific mumbo jumbo? I wanted to give you a background on why I choose to stop using Henna and started using Cassia. I don’t want the color deposit anymore. If I can still do my Ayurvedic treatments without the color ~daps off~….that’s wussup.

I did use the Cassia myself and i liked. My hair needed some serious strengthening properties because i had moisture overload… I HAD MOISTURE OVERLOAD!
Do you know that has NEVER happened to me before? Mind you, moisture overload is not any better than protein overload, it’s actually just as bad. But the fact that my hair was holding so much moisture had me really excited.. still not a good thing if your hair is popping

My Cassia treatment Mixture:

• 1 bag of Cassia
• 1 Egg (for an extra shot of protein)
• Water

Usually you are supposed use something with acidity such as lemon juice or green tea but I didn’t have either one around at the time so I just used water. It worked out fine though!

I left the treatment in for about 5 hours, rinsed out with conditioner, deep conditioned and slept with the deep conditioner overnight. When i awoke the next morning, I rinsed out the deep conditioner and styled. (Before I started the process I clarified so it could be absorbed into my hair easier)

My hair was full, stronger, and felt wonderful! I bought it from Butterz – N – Bars. I bought 100g (1 bag) for $6.99.

If you decide to buy from them, make sure you use the coupon code “STRAWBERRICURLS” to get 10% off! See, it pays to be my blog reader..lol

HHJ 🙂

Box Braids: Whitney’s DIY Experience

I really wanted to change my look so I decided to do something completely different, box braids. I was going for a Solange inspired look…

I wanted mine to be a little thinner than that, but I love this ethnic, boho look. Just in case you were wondering, the difference between box braids and micro braids is box braids are thicker and braided with synthetic hair.

I’ve had my hair braided a ton of times before, but I’ve never attempted them myself. I went to trusty you tube to learn a few things them I got started…

I started with freshly washed and deep conditioned hair.

Here is the braid hair I bought. It was on sale for 99 cents a bag.

Close up shot..

Then I started. Here is my first braid! It took me freakin’ 30 minutes!

Look how proud I was!

I spent 6 hours on Friday and I forgot to take a picture when I was done because I was exhausted! Saturday I started at 10:00 am this is what I had around 3:00.

Yea, 11 hours in that’s all I had done. I was so sad! So my new strategy was to braid all around the edges and leave the middle until then so if I didn’t finish I could at least pull all of the braids back. I was so tired by this point and I knew I couldn’t do it on my own so I had to call in reinforcements. I bribed Alex to come help me. We braided from 4:00 to 9:20ish and this is how far we got.

Not to bad, but I had this entire section to do Sunday by myself

On Sunday I was tired so I took big ass sections and braided the rest of it in 3 hours…the middle is a little janky but oh well.

The finished product!!

They are a little uneven, but they are DONE. 18 hours ( it took me about an hour to cut them and seal the ends) and 3 days later. Geez! It took 7 packs of hair so all and all this cost me only $7. You cant beat that.

Here are a few ways I’ve worn them over the few days

This day my BF told me I looked like Ms. Cleo. I was like ok, well let me read your palm. I told him that the long line on his right hand tells me he’s a sucky BF! HA! He eventually came around. He likes them now.

I’m looking around for more styles to wear..How do y’all think I, well we (Alex and I) did?

Braid care regimen

Twice a day, I spray Sporty Afros G+ Moisturizing Spray on the top half of my braids when my hair is, then I use Shea Moisture deep masque treatment as a moisturizer. You cant forget that there your natural hair is still in there so you have to keep it moisturized or it will break. I also use Sporty Afros Ayuvedic oil on my scalp and seal in the Shea Moisture.

I’m not going to wash them too often, only when I get out of the pool and then I will use my Aubrey Organics shampoo diluted in a cup of water so I can just “rinse” the shampoo through my braids without manipulating them too much. I don’t want them to get frizzy. Then I’ll add my Kinky Curly Knot Today conditioner since its clear and wont have as much build up and I’ll do my daily moisturizing routine above.

Caring for braids while working out

As for working out, I didn’t really think that thorough before I started! So far I’ve just gone for a run. I sprayed them down with my Sporty Afros G+ Moisturizing spray and pulled them up into 3 pony tails, one like I’m wearing them half up half down then the other half I split into pig tails and it stays out of my way. That’s the same way I’m going to wear them when I bike too. I’m swimming tomorrow morning so I’ll let y’all know what I end up doing with them.

Check out her blog! Sporty Afros!

Product Review: Ouidad Moisture Lock Leave – In Conditioner

Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Cetyl peg/ppg-10/1 Dimethicone, Amodimethicone, Cetearyl Alcohol, Hydrogenated Castor Oil/Sebacic Acid Copolymer, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Polyquaternium-59, Panthenol (Vitamin B5), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Arnica Montana Flower Extract, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Leaf Extract, Opuntia (Prickly Pear Cactus) Tuna Flower Extract, Parfum (Fragrance), Butylene Glycol, PVP, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Disodium EDTA, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate

Claim: A lightweight moisture treatment for curly hair inspired by skincare science. It creates a “moisture foundation” by infusing individual strands with conditioners vital to healthy hair and great looking curls! Prickly Pear Cactus Extract draws moisture from the air and seals it in for superior conditioning. Antioxidants Green Tea and Vitamin B5 protect hair and promote shine. And Arnica Extract, a healing agent, promotes long-lasting hydration and helps seal the cuticle layer to prevent frizz and encourage healthier hair and scalp.

Price: 8.5 ounce $22.00 bucks 

My Opinion: It was ok but everyone’s hair is different. I definitely don’t have anything negative to say about it at all. It did leave my hair soft though and it wasn’t weighed down at all. It left no build up on my hair no matter how much i used and i am very heavy handed. It is extremely lightweight and i may try it to add a little moisture to my hair before i blow dry. My hair actually was so light, you would think i didn’t have anything on it at all . lol  It is a bit pricey though and if you would like to try before you buy, they do have sample sizes so that is a HUGE plus!

Where to purchase: Ouidad.com , NaturallyCurly.com ‘s CurlMart

Hairstyle Fumble Recovery!

Via 24 Seven Curls

This past Friday I washed my hair with Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo.

I loved the smell all day and how it kept my hair feeling soft afterwards, clean but not stripped.  I just wore it in a puff to work that morning.  My intention was to do 2-strand twists as a protective style when I got home…however I was informed that we had to go to a HS football game…which ended up being a blowout…womp womp.  Nonetheless I had like an hour or so to do this…

So, I rushed and did the front half in 2 strands, then tried to pin up the back…FUMBLE!

I think I didn’t even take a pic of the back pinned up because it looked crazy, but who cares I’ve been out of High School for almost 10 years now…wasn’t trying to impress a soul.  SO once I got home I tried to recover my hairstyle fumble and came up with this for the meeting I had the next day:

      

Needless to say I’ve been happy with this because it’s easy.  I sprayed some tea tree oil on my scalp at  night, wear my satin scarf, wake up and do a type of flat twist gathering all the 2 strands down the left side and tuck the ends under each other on top of my head. I may use 1 or 2 bobby pins to secure the back larger flat twist end underneath on the same left side. But other than that, it’s a quick get up & go.  Due to the rain today I will wait another day to do the twist out & rock that but…this works for me!

What are your go-to quick styles or styles that you’ve created from hairstyle fumbles???

Tutorial: Flat Braidout plus Results

I have no idea why i didn’t take a picture of my hair before when it was braided down, but i didn’t ~shrug~
Anyway to achieve this look, I had my sister flat braid my hair down using Naturalista Cosmetics Juicy- Leave In ( i swear by this stuff and im actually out right now.. i’m about to cry). The picture of my hair below is old but its an idea of how my hair looked while it was braided down

Just take away the bantu knots at the ends and you pretty much have the gist of how my hair looked while it was braided down. I slept on it overnight and I used Vatika Oil the next morning at the ends of my hands to take it down to prevent frizz.

Just a quick plug in really quickly so you guys can get an idea what my hair looked like in FEB 2010 with the same hairstyle

(Geez look at how big my face was)

I used a different product on this one, my own personal mixture. I think i might revisit and try it again since my hair is much longer now.

Happy HHJ!

My Experience with CurlFormers

I finally got around to doing my curlformers set and i must say..

Me Likey…

I started off with completely clarified hair. My tools were a ratail comb, duck bill clips,spray bottle filled with water, Naturalista Cosmetics PHD Spray, and LottaBody setting lotion.

I sprayed my hair with the spray bottle and the PHD spray to detangle. As I used the curlformers, i added the LottaBody to each section. I slightly twisted the hair so i could put it on that pain in the ass hook before i pulled it through the curlformer. Eventually, i got the hang of it but off the bat, the damn hook was pretty annoying. It took about an hour to set my whole head, which isnt bad IMO.

I sat under the hair dryer for about 45mins. I thought i was going somewhere thats the only reason i even bothered. Believe me i HATE that damn hair dryer. I ended up sleeping w/ them overnight and they weren’t too uncomfortable. Today i was supposed to go somewhere but that got cancelled as well so i ended up taken them out earlier than i expected too. I must admit i was quite annoyed walking around with those all day so they had to come out.

The curls were really soft and bouncy. My hair felt like butter so i was really impressed by that! And the greatest part of all… ZERO HEAT! You dont need heat to do this. As i said, sitting under the hair dryer was my choice and optional so you don’t have to do it. I separated them and it created a slight bit of frizz but it wasn’t nothing too terrible.

 

I decided to pin some back and put in an a flower. I really do like them though!

24 Flexi-Rod Set Tutorial on Natural Hair

She disabled embeded videos so i can’t embed this you guys….. but this is a really great tutorial and her hair is beautiful!

http://youtu.be/HZ3JP4WBcII