Flat Twist Out

I was reading a blog post on CurlyNikki.com by Shanti who is a natural and did a twist out on her hair. I had the natural or curly head products in my house that I purchased when I thought I was transitioning to natural. Attached is the 3 part youtube clip of the process but I'll just document what I did, pretty much following Shanti's method (check out her blog- acurlsbf.com ).

1. I pre-poo'd hair with VO5 moisture milks conditioner, jojoba oil, coconut oil and sweet almond oil.
2. I washed my hair with Organix Coconut Milk Shampoo and Conditioner.
3. I deep conditioned my hair with Mixed Chicks Deep Conditioner without heat for over an hour
4. After washing out the DC, I sectioned my hair from ear to ear, tucked away the back half, and then did a side part in the front and worked with one section at a time.
5. On the section of hair I was twisting, I applied Kinky Curly Knot Today Leave in conditioner and sealed with Sweet Almond Oil.
6. I parted my hair for the section I was going to flat twist and applied a dime size or so amount of Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie and proceeded to twist. At the end of each twist I applied a snap roller to curl the end.
7. I had four twists on the right side, three twists on the left, and about eleven twists in the back.

I applied my satin scarf and bonet and went to sleep. The next morning I removed my rollers, and I applied Fantasia IC Frizz Buster to my hands and untwisted my hair.

Here are some of the results:

I made this twist out last for 5 days. The first day I just wore it down, but after that, I wore it in updo's and in a messy bun.

Check out my youtube video for step by step details:

Caruso Roller Set

I have a wedding to attend next week and since I am still on the no direct heat challenge, I needed a way to do my hair for the special occasion.

I decided to do a dry roller set using my Caruso steam rollers and I loved the result.

I pre-poo'd over night and then washed and deep conditioned my hair. I then allowed my hair to air dry about 90% before blow drying on cool air. I dusted my ends using my split ender and went to bed with my hair wrapped.

The next morning I proceeded to set my hair with the caruso steam rollers, styled my hair and then went out shopping with the boyfriend.

Like I said, I loved the results. My hair felt so soft and the curls came out nice.

Check out my youtube video to see the roller setting process.

Air Drying

I am on a summer 2012 challenge on one of the hair care sites I am a member of, and part of the challenge is to do weekly washes, so I have been washing my hair on a weekly basis.

Today, because I had a paper to work on, and my sister's hair to do, I decided to air dry my hair. I did my same wash routine from last week using Organix Coconut Milk shampoo and conditioner, and then I did a protein treatment with Aphogee Keratin 2 Minute Recontructor for about 7 minutes. After that was washed out, I t-shirt dried my hair then I detangled with my wide tooth shower comb and sprayed the Aphogee Keratin & Green Tea Reconstructurizer, and applied my leave in conditioner, pulled my hair back, and placed my satin scarf over my edges.

After an hour and a half of air drying, I applied some Coconut Oil to my hair.
After three hours of air drying, the roots of my hair and the back/middle section of my head is still damp.
After air drying for 5 hours, my hair is about 95% dry.

Before going to bed I will pull my hair into a loose ponytail or bun and sleep with my bonet on.

How long does it take you to air dry?

Meeka's Wash Day

My sister Meeka came to me to get her hair washed. I do not mind doing her hair, but she does not take my advice when I tell her what to do with her hair- such as protective styling. She hates ponytails and buns because she likes her hair to be flowing all on her shoulders and down her back.

With my help, my sister went from shoulder length hair to currently past APL. For about a year straight her hair was hidden under weaves that I did and cared for. Today, she came in my house and I was like "wow, your hair is bra strap length". I told her that I had to take a picture to compare her hair now to the condition it was in two years ago, when I started my hair journey. When I took the picture, I noticed that only a piece of her hair was BSL, most of her hair was past APL, but the ends were just so thin.

I told her that I would have to cut those scraggly ends off and that I would so in two weeks when I apply her weave- that way, she will not miss the length. So on to her wash!

I washed her hair with Aphogee's Deep Moisture Shampoo followed by the Keratin 2 minute reconstructor, let that sit on her hair for about 10 minutes, then washed it out. I sprayed the green tea and keratin on her hair and applied my homemade leave in conditoner (Kimmaytube's version) before roller setting her hair in the mohawk style.

It was too hot for me to apply heat to straighten out her roots and her under processed hair, so I just wrapped her hair up and before she left my house, she comb her hair down. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures (she left really late and I was tired).

Summer Go To Styles

Since having my hair trimmed on June 1, 2012, I knew that I did not want to style my hair in ways that would cause my ends to split or become damaged, so I told myself that I would try to keep my hair up and off of my shoulders until I reached APL again. Not only does wearing my hair down cause breakage and split ends, but the weather can also add to this. Since it is summer, my hair needs to be well moisturized so that the sun does not dry out my hair and my ends. Here are some pictures of styles that I have been wearing:

 Flexi Rod Set on dry hair

Banana Clip Bun

Flat Twist Out on Damp Hair

Flat Twist Out Dry

Donut Bun

What do you ladies do to your hair in the summer?