Christmas Eve Look of the Day: Loose/Messy Ballerina Bun

Happy Christmas Eve lovelies!!

I hope all of you are having a great Christmas Eve spending time with the ones you love. If you're not spending time with the ones you love and are doing some last minute shopping, I hope it's going well. If you're traveling, I hope you all arrive at your destinations safe and sound.


Me? I arrived home in VA yesterday! :) I flew in last night (Can you believe a 12hr drive is an hour and a half flight!?!) and now I'm ready to run some errands with my mama. One thing I always forget about VA around this time of year is that it's cold.....cold and windy. It's not like B'ham where it's pretty much still warm (temps in the 60s, and some days the 70s). So needless to say, my hair is up in a bun right now. I wanted to do something quick that will get me out the door in a timely manner.

So......

Today I am rocking a loose/messy ballerina bun. The beauty of this bun is that you only need bobby pins. I didn't use a hair tie at all (mainly because I wanted a more loose look and not necessarily sleek). I pretty much gathered my hair, twisted it into a bun, and secured the bun with bobby pins. As always, I sleeked my edges down with gel.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you guys a look of my look for day: the loose/messy ballerina bun.

Anyways y'all, my mom is ready to head out the door. I gotta go! Happy/Merry Christmas Eve everyone! :)

Look of the Day (12/19/2011): Messy Side Bun

Happy Monday lovelies!

I hope you all have had a productive Monday! I just wanted to stop by and post how I styled my hair for the day. Ever since my relaxer day last week, I have been wearing my own hair more and trying to come up with styles to wear. Following my relaxer day, I wore my hair out and straight for 1 day.....then I got annoyed and wanted it up off my neck (and not able to be blown around in the wind lol). Naturally, I went back to bunning. For the weekend, I primarily wore a high bun but for today in lab, I decided to rock a side bun.

As I was perusing through my InStyle magazine (which I love by the way), I came across this messy side bun worn by Lucy Liu:

I absolutely love it! It's done without being too done! Naturally, I wanted to try it out on myself...

....and I did.

Really this is my version of "messy." The bun itself is loose and not super duper tight. That's about as messy as it gets! LOL

Anyway, check it out!

It's a super duper easy protective style and quick, too (which was a plus this morning because I was running late! I'm exploring other options for protective styling since I will be going home this Friday and will be unable to bring my arsenal of hair products. I'm definitely going have to find some easy styles to do while I'm home. :/

Hair Lessons for 2011

Happy Sunday lovelies!

I hope you are all having a nice, restful, relaxing Sunday evening. For the first time in about a month or so, I have had an entire weekend for myself and let me tell you...I've enjoyed every minute of it!

Anyway, as you guys know we are coming up on the end of the year (can you believe that 2011 has gone by so quickly!?) and usually around this time, I like to take stock of what I did hair-wise through out the year. I sit and figure out what works, what didn't work, what stays in the regimen, what can be replaced, etc. I figure that by keeping my regimen as flexible as a can (because let's face it, there are some things in my regimen that are non-negotiable ), I am constantly doing what is best for my hair. By weeding out the practices that are detrimental for my growth and retention, I can ensure maximal results.


Here is what I learned for 2011:

1) Long stretches are not for me. Recently you guys just saw me complete a 20 week stretch! However, that stretch came with some issues (tangling, matting, etc.). I learn that although some ladies can stretch and stretch and stretch some more, I am not one of those people. My hair rebels at a certain point. Going into 2012, I will stretch only to a maximum of 16 weeks.

2) My hair is not short! Let me explain. Yes I know my hair is long. I know this. However, in terms of product application, I was treating my hair like was still in that short cut and acting like I could just haphazardly plop product on and my hair would get what it needs. Nope. Not now. I really have to make an extra effort to ensure that product gets to my ends. I have to do that at this point. NO ifs, ands, or buts.


3) Low maintenance doesn't mean NO maintenance. From September until now, I had been half wigging my little heart out. I would wash/DC my hair, put plaits in, and put my half wig on. It was a very no fuss, no muss type regimen. And I loved it. However, my hair did not. I have to admit that I got a little lazy in my regimen during this time. I didn't apply product like I should have and I didn't detangle like I should have. The end result? Nasty tangles on wash day. Lesson learned: just because you have a low maintenance regimen, it doesn't mean that it is completely hands off.


4) My hair is a moisture junkie. This is pretty self explanatory. However, when I first started my journey, I was anal about maintaining a strict protein/moisture balance. Now, I tend to err more on the side of moisture and my hair is cool with that.

5) There are more protective styles than braids. The Summer of 2011 was the first summer since the start of my journey where I didn't use braids, kinky twists, etc. to get by. I was quite proud of myself for this AND I got to find new styles to incorporate into the mix (bantu knots, braid outs, mini twists, etc.). Definitely makes protective styling all the more interesting!


Those are the major hair lessons for me this year. I wonder what hair lessons I'll learn as I continue growing to greater lengths in 2012.

What hair lessons did you learn?

No-No Products: Do You Use Them?

Happy Thursday lovelies!

Tonight I took on the task of putting my hair into a high bun since it is supposed to rain tomorrow. As I was putting the bun together, I used a pretty good amount of Dove Holding Hairspray. Yep. I use hairspray...the one with alcohol in it...the stuff that is supposed to make our hair shatter into a thousand pieces because alcohol dries it out. I don't use it all the time and primarily use it when I need my hair to stay in a certain position (usually just for buns). Actually, hairspray has been a consistent staple in my arsenal...well before my hair journey days. At one point in my life, I had a love affair with the purple Optimum hairspray (which I can't find anywhere).

Anyway, that got me to thinking.

From the start of our hair journeys, we've heard about products to keep away from our hair. We hear about how to stay away from mineral oil/petroleum based products, alcohol based products, and the like. For the most part, a lot of us do stay away from those products. However, how many of us have said "Bump what the hair boards/blogs/forums say, Imma use (___________)?"

Like I mentioned I do use hair spray. But, I also use hair grease (usually as a base for my relaxers) and oil sheen (again, not all the time). As you guys can see, there are no detrimental effect to my hair. I just use them in moderation.

What "no-no products" you use? Do you have an affinity for the black Ampro gel? How many of you still use Pink Oil Moisturizer (even though it's hell in a bottle). Go ahead and tell me here.


I won't tell anyone... :)

December 14, 2011: Final Relaxer for the Year

Whew!

I am finally done with my hair!!

Tonight was relaxer night ( I was pretty much waiting 72hrs from the time I had last washed my hair) and I am finally done with my hair! It took around 6hrs to do but I am pleased with the results.

I relaxed my hair using Mizani Butter Blends. However, because I had so much new growth I relaxed my hair in halves. For each half, I applied the relaxer and left it on for 15min. I then rinsed the relaxer out and put ORS Replenishing Conditioner in my hair for 5 minutes. Next, I washed the condish out, neutralized my hair with Silk Elements Neutralizing Shampoo, and DCed with Silcon Mix for an hour. Following the DC, I put Roux Porosity Control in my hair for 5 minutes and rinsed it out with cold water.

After alla that, I sprayed my hair with Aphogee Green Tea and Keratin Reconstructor, applied a little One N Only Argan Oil and blow dried my hair. Finally, I flat ironed using Fantasia IC Heat Protectant (yikes! That sounds like a ton of heat! I probably should roller set but I'm not doing that until I get a decent hair dryer. And by decent, I mean a Pibbs).

You guys, my hair has grown so much this year (as you will see in the pics). My retention has pretty much been on point! I'm also noticing that my nape is starting to retain length (you'll see it...it's the patch of hair that looks shorter than the rest. It is NOT breakage though. I checked.). I know I'm going to have to get a trim..I'm just trying to figure out when that will happen. In the meantime (not tonight though), I will do a Search N Destroy w/ my shears until I figure out when the trim day will be. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a deep trim yet and considering that I don't really use heat like that, I think I'll be ok holding off for awhile. Besides, I got my last trim with my last relaxer.

ALSO! I'm thinking about getting bangs. I feel like my hair needs more...oomph! In the past when I got bored with my hair, I would cut it. Like seriously cut it...but I can't really do that now. I mean I can...but I think it would crush my soul. Anyway, more to come with that.

Let's check out the pics!

This time last year, my hair looked like this:

In July, my hair looked like this:

I didn't tell y'all this but in October I did a legit length check. Straightened my hair and everything:

and...for the pics I KNOW you're dying to see....my hair now is this length:

Yall see that spot I'm talking about? It's lagging behind the rest but I'm not too worried because it's growing. But...I think it's safe to say that I'm full BSL. Even if yall don't agree...I'm still claiming it lol :) I think I'm going to wear my hair out for a while because let's face it... I never do. My hair is ready to be whipped back and forth and dangit I'm not gonna fight the feeling!!

Anyway..I know I'm tired because I'm being kinda silly at the moment. I just wanted you guys to be the first to see my progress!

Week 20....

:deep sigh:


File this under: How do I know when my hair can't handle a stretch?


My hair is on some 'EFF YOU!!' status right now and I hate it! HATE IT!

I'll be hitting 20 weeks post on Thursday and my wash day this past weekend was horrendous. Yes..it was that freaking bad. I had tangling and matting on a massive, massive scale (you guys should have seen the hair ball that resulted from my wash day). I'm guessing that at this point, the 2 textures are just too much. The relaxed part of my hair just wants to tangle and the new growth......my new growth is just on some other stuff right now. I spent a great deal of time just trying to detangle my hair even though I just wanted to cry. Worst wash day ever.


With that said, it is definitely relaxer time. I was trying to wait until the new year to relax again but with the way that my hair has been acting lately, that may do more harm than good. I'm looking to relax this weekend (if not sooner) with my beloved Mizani Butter Blends and will probably do the half and half method because I have sooooo much new growth right now. I considered going to a salon to get it done but that thought is just terrifying to me.

Welp. It's been a good run with this stretch but it's time to relax. I know I said this before but...I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER stretch this long again! EVER!!


Sorry for the sad post but I'm kinda blown right now. I really wanted to make it to the new year. :(

My December Half Wig: Outre Zahra

Happy Monday lovelies!!


Well I FINALLY got my December half wig. This month, I felt a little adventurous. I've been rocking super duper curly wigs since September and I just wanted to change it up a bit. Sooo...this month's wig is a little bit straighter, with some curl to it.

Isn't this wig just awesome!?!


I purchased Outre Zahra in 1B from blackhairspray.com. Just like my other Outre wigs, the 1B is true to color (meaning: the 1B is an off black and not a dark brown). Zahra also has 2 combs, 1 in the front and the other in the back. However, I found the front comb to be a tad bit flimsy. It was definitely a struggle just trying to secure the dern wig to my head lol. This wig doesn't have a drawstring BUT it does have adjustable straps if you need to adjust it. Like Samara Girl, this wig is pretty long--around BSL. Compared to my curlier wigs, this wig is thin. It's not super duper thin (I mean I just still put my hair in 2 plaits and it doesn't make the wig look jank), it's just.....different from what I'm used to. It's certainly not as thick as the picture would lead you to believe.

Although Zahra is a synthetic half wig, it is very soft. In terms of blending, I had to work with Zahra a bit. I pretty much just straightened the hair that I left out (I REALLY REALLY had to work it too. My hair just doesn't want to lay down). However, I finally got the blending straight....I even have one of my gray hairs showing ( I know...I KNOW!! I'm 26 and I have gray hair. Tis an unfortunate situation).

Anyway, I snapped a few pics...or what pics I could. I think the battery chamber to my camera broke and I had to be super creative with getting these shots. So, if the pics look jank, don't blame me lol.

You've been warned....