It has been TOO long...

Hi Lovelies!  It has been WAY too long.  After my summer internship in New York City, I moved back to Ithaca for my last year at Cornell.  School mixed with wedding planning and recruiting made for a hectic life.  So for the most part, I have been rockin' my natural hair.  I did however get a weave for our engagement pictures.  Here is one for your viewing pleasure :).

Photo by Love Life Images, Inc.

So let's talk about the weave.  My weave was beautiful, but I decided to leave some of my real hair out to make it look more natural.  I have never done this before.  I usually get full weaves, not exposing any of my natural hair.  Here is a close up (you know I can't resist showing off my handsome fiancé).  This was a hasty decision because I didn't think about the maintenance for keeping my hair straight, especially since I have a trainer 3 times a week.  When my hair was freshly straightened, it blended very well with the weave (this time I used wavy Indian Remy human hair).  But as the days went on it was harder and harder to blend.  I ended up putting heat on my hair 3 times a week and using that much heat on my hair concerned me.  Since I rarely straighten my hair, I didn't want the heat to alter my curl pattern for that one section that I left out.  I was very good about using heat protecting products before any heat touched my hair, but that still didn't make me feel comfortable.

Another issue I had to deal with was due to my hair thinning due to Alopecia.  Making sure my scalp wasn't exposed was difficult and really left me feeling insecure.  I did discover "hair shadow" which is basically eyeshadow for your scalp.  The stuff is great.  I was able to put this on my scalp to give the appearance of hair; this stuff was a lifesaver.

Well I managed to leave my weave in only for one month.  I'm going to Brazil (yay) for 10 days and the thought of having to deal with the heat, humidity and my hair, was too much to think about.  I have noticed that my curls are more relaxed in that one spot that I was flat ironing on a regular basis.

I'm glad to have my natural hair back.  I'm still following my same wash, condition, and styling routine, but I am finding that I experiment with how I wear my twist outs a lot more.  Here are some pics of my latest 'do.  Also, I put a clear rinse in my hair a few months ago.  I'm sure it has rinsed by now, but I'm loving my hair color (most of the henna has grown out).

Happy Engagement to Me!

A few days ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find a package at my door.  Turns out it was an engagement gift from NaturallyCurly.com!  The box of hair goodies included (in addition to the list, I got some trial sizes of some other great stuff):

• Mizani True Textures Curl Replenish
• Mizani True Textures Moisture Stretch
• Mizani True Textures Perfect Curl
• Cutler Specialist Molding Putty
• Max Green Alchemy Scalp Rescue Pomade (this stuffs smells AMAZING)

So first things first, I must try something!  I just took a midterm today (I started writing this yesterday, so yes, I had a midterm on a SUNDAY!) so this is my treat to myself - some good old hair time.

I washed my hair with my medicated shampoo and KC Come Clean.  Instead of my normal deep conditioner (Redken Butter Treat), I used the Curl Replenish moisturizing masque.  My initial thought was, "Hmmm, why did I have to use half of the container for one treatment?"  So after detangling with KC Knot Today, I used a mixture of Moisture Stretch and Perfect Curl to two-strand twist.  Now before you ask me... yes, the ingredient list kind of sucks (for starters there is Mineral Oil in the Moisture Stretch).  After I sat under the dryer for a total of an hour, my hair felt super soft.

So fast forward to this morning.  I untwisted my hair and thought it felt very soft.  But as I was sitting in class and touching my hair... it felt kinda greasy.  Yuck.  So as of right now: 1 point for Curl Replenish and 0 for Moisture Stretch.  I won't pass judgement on Perfect Curl quite yet.

Regardless, my hair looks cute.

Still going strong... I think

So Ithaca is treating me well, I am just busy beyond belief.  And for that reason, I haven't really experimented with any new styles or products.  I have been sticking to my "go to" look - the wet twist out using KCC. The summer weather has been beautiful up here - nice dry air.  But summer will soon be gone and the horrid winter weather will be moving in.

I have done two henna treatments since I have been here and I hope that I can keep doing them once every few weeks.  The problem is finding the time to devote to doing the treatments.

I can't tell if I am still losing my hair due to the Alopecia.  Some days I am super paranoid and think that I am, and other days I feel like it looks the same.  So I am trying to keep up with my vitamins and using my ointments.  Getting an appointment with a dermatologist is ridiculously hard up here (I think there is only one lol).

Bantu Knot-Outs aren't just for long hair beauties!

I've been intrigued by bantu knots for a while now, but never thought I could achieve a cute look due to my length.  So last night I was watching TV and decided to try something new.  Starting with dry hair (I washed my hair and styled with Knot Today and KCC on Sunday), I lightly sprayed my hair with a water/aloe vera oil spritz and proceeded to make little bantu knots all over my head.  I secured the ends with bobby pins and went to sleep.


I woke up this morning with a cute, curly fro!  I will have to try this on wet hair and make a video about it.

This is why I can't keep my hair straight...

So after paying a pretty penny to get my hair blown out + trimmed + colored, I find out that it is supposed to rain for the next few days (I usually check the weather before I make an appointment, but I was so excited that I forgot this time around).  FML.  I woke up this morning determined to get to work not looking like a poof ball, so I did something that I probably shouldn't have done.  I went to work in my pink and green scarf with my hair wrapped underneath *gasp*.  So I made it through my bus and metro ride without seeing someone I know.  But I get into the elevator and of course there is someone from upper management riding up with me... oh well.

I was willing to look a hot mess if it meant saving my hair and best believe that I will be putting my scarf right back on my head when I leave to go home!

I did a damn good job though.  My hair still looks fresh!

 

New Style Alert!

So I was browsing the internet a few days ago, bored and looking up things about hair, and I came across Tracie Mae on YouTube.  Not only is she hilarious, but she also inspired me to try a style that I have been meaning to do for a while now - a flexi rod set on wet/damp hair.  I also tried Tracie Mae's "budget curly pudding" (as she calls it) recipe: 
1 oz. oil (I used 100% aloe vera oil)
4 oz. unrefinded shea butter
8 oz. IC Fantasia Gel.  


So here is how I did it:

1. Shampoo, (deep) condition, and detangle, as you normally would.
2. Lightly blow your hair dry.  I really only did it for a minute or so, just to get the initial dampness out. (Note: I just redid my hair today and I left my hair wet, I like it better this way.  I kept my hair wet using a mixture of water and aloe vera oil).
3. Take medium sized pieces and apply the "budget curly pudding" mixture to each piece, and set on blue flexi rods. (Note: Today I used KC Spiral Spritz). 
4. Sit under the dryer for at least an hour.
5. Take out the flexi rods and style any way you like!

Here are some pictures from the 4 days I wore this look.  I will have  video blog up of my process in the next couple of days.

  

KCC Day 4

I am on a roll!  Day 4 and my hair still looks okay.  My goal is to make this last one more day and I'll do my hair again tomorrow night.  My hope is to dry it completely under the dryer before I go to bed and just touch it up on Friday morning before I catch my early flight!


Today I actually wet my hair in the shower.  I didn't completely drench it, but I did let it get pretty wet.  I used my diffuser to get most of the wetness out and I'm letting it air dry the rest of the day.  Let's hope that I can get one more day out of this look!

KCC Day 3

Okay so today I went through the same morning routine.  I wet my hair with plain water and used a little of the KC Spiral Spritz and then I pulled my hair back with a hair band.  My curls are still super defined and I actually like it better than yesterday.


I may be able to pull this look off a few more days!  I will definitely keep you all updated!

KCC Day 2

So I woke up this morning with helmet hair - not cute!  I used a combination of the KC Spiral Spritz and plain water in my spray bottle to refresh the look.  It doesn't look as good as it did yesterday, but it looks okay.  Don't know if this look will survive another night.  Ugh.  I might need to give myself an extra hour in the morning to do my hair all over again before work tomorrow... is it really worth it?  What a pain!


Has anyone successfully made this style last longer than 2 days?

NYC Blow Out + Trim

So I went to NYC this past weekend and I couldn't resist the allure of the $30 blow out.  Even though the stylists were rude my hair came out great.  I haven't had to put any heat on my hair since I got it done on Saturday.  I just roll it up at night with flexi rods (after my nightly scalp massage - I am trying to do this b/c I noticed my hair in the front is looking thin), wrap it in the morning as I get ready, and unwrap before I leave the house and it looks great.


But then it snowed.  Boo!  So this morning I kept my hair wrapped and finally got to break out my hat that I blogged about a few months back!  When I got to work, I went straight to the bathroom and unwrapped it.


Before all of this, I noticed that my ends were in need of a trim.  So I decided to take matters in my own hands.  When my hair was twisted, I simply snipped off the ratty looking ends.  It was super easy and drastically improved the look of my hair!  Now that my hair is blown out, my ends look pretty good. 


I am going to keep my hair straight for 2 weeks and then go back to my wet twist outs until I go get my hair colored.

Still no blow dryer!

I must say - I am quite happy with myself.  I have yet to pick up a blow dryer!  I think my hair is finally at a stage that when I style it wet, I don't lose too much length, IF I do some type of twisting style.  


Also, I'm sorry that I have been MIA, but as you all know, I have been applying to business school and have so far gotten accepted into two programs!  I have also been working on a new site design, so stay tuned.

I am almost out of the Pureology Hydrate shampoo and conditioner and I have been toying with the idea of purchasing the Pureology Nanoworks shampoo and conditioner which are considerably more expensive.  My stylists said that they are amazing.  I will keep my eye on eBay, because I refuse to pay the full retail amount.  Has anyone tried the Nanoworks line?


Also don't forget to check out my video blogs on the NaturallyCurly website.

Trying to give up the blow dryer...

So with almost 2 feet of snow on the ground, I have been doing a lot of thinking and experimenting with my hair.  I think that I am going to try and ditch the blow dryer (for as long as possible).  After the Hair Rules experiment and after a four hour nap, at 12 a.m. I decided to play with my hair yet again.  After watching some really great YouTube videos, I decided to "remix" my two strand twist out.  This time I tried two strand twisting my hair wet with Baby Buttercreme.  Then I set my twists on flexi rods and went to sleep (please ignore the blue flexi rod still in the back of my head in the picture). I think that I may be on to something...

I am still trying to figure out what to do with the left side of my head, hence the flexi rods.  Maybe I'll pin that side up too and have a curly mohawk of some sort.  If I can get this technique to work, I may have found yet another super easy style.


I like how my color looks when I let it air dry and it is nice not having to pull out the blow dryer.  I am just scared of dealing with shrinkage.


PS - Don't forget about the Clairol Jazzing giveaway!  All you have to do is fill out a super quick survey to be eligible to win!  You have until December 31, 2009 to enter!

Aveda Brilliant Humectant Pomade + Dry Twists = FANTASTIC

Forgive me for positing so infrequently - I am in the midst of seven business schools applications!  But I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by to share with you my excitement.  I have had a half full container of the Aveda Brilliant Humectant Pomade in my closet, but I haven't known what to use it for exactly.  Occassionally, I have used it for my pulled back puff because it gives me hold, shine and moisturize.  Well in doing my hair tonight, I grabbed it and figured this would be an experiment for my dry twist out.

This product is great for twisting.  Because this product is a pomade, I have just enough hold to twist nice and tight right at my scalp.  It also doesn't hurt that it smells fantastic!  I can't wait to take my twists out tomorrow.

This product will be great in the winter since it is a humectant and will attract moisture to your hair.  Try mixing Aveda Brilliant Humectant Pomade with some of your favorite products to give your hair an extra shine.

Take a look at my twists.  My hair is really growing!  If only it didn't shrink so much when it was wet!

New Lazy 'Do

I am always excited to share something new, even if it is really nothing, so thank you for putting up with me as I express a lil bit of joy :o).  My hair is growing at a nice pace, so I am able to do more.  I blew it out this morning, but didn't want to just pull it back like I usually do.  So before my Board meeting, I threw some clips in it and did a "half" pull back.  The 'do is nothing special, but I can add it to the my list of lazy hairdos.  Check out the pictures.

 

Flexi Rods aren't just for wet hair

Day 4 and my hair is still straight and full of volume.  On Sunday night, I wasn't quite sure what to do with my hair to maintain the curls because I didn't want to use any heat during the week.  So I looked through my closet and came across spongy pink rollers, hard pink rollers and flexi rods.  Not sure if you all remember, but I attempted to flexi rod my hair when it was wet a few months ago and that was an epic fail.  But I figured they had to be good for something, why not dry hair?


They have worked well!  My hair is at the length that it doesn't matter which way I roll it because it will look great in the morning no matter what.  So I have been using the flexi rods and pincurls to maintain the curls and I only use heat to touch up the roots in the front or to tame a wild piece.  To finish off my look, I used KeraCare's Oil Sheen with Humidity block and I am pretty happy with the results.  I took the below pictures this morning before I left the house:

Air Drying + Color

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!  The weather in the DC area has been amazing and hot.  Yesterday I decided to wash my hair but I wasn't in the mood to deal with the blow dryer.  So I washed with my Wen cleanser and did a deep conditioning treatment with Butter Treat (by Redken).  While the Butter Treat was sitting on my head, I mixed up a moisturizing spritz - water, glycerin and some Kemi oil.  After I rinsed out the conditioner, I sprayed my hair with some spritz and then used Organic Root Stimulator Loc & Twist Gel (love this stuff and it's inexpensive) to coil my hair.  And let me say that this took me a good hour, maybe a little bit longer.  I wasn't terribly happy with my hair when I woke up because of the dreaded shrinkage issue that I deal with, but the curls were defined and coily.  Take a look at the pictures below and ignore the random two strand twists in the front.  I had my hair pulled back all day so before I wrapped up my hair for the night, I had to do something with the semi-straight pieces in the front.

The one positive of air drying, is that my color looks great!  I am not sure if it is from my spritz, the gel, the air drying or a combination of the three.  But my highlights look great and my roots don't even look that bad.  Dare I say that I will try no heat again next week?  Maybe I'll two strand twist...

Stimulating my scalp + my rod set FAIL

So let's start with the good "news". As I have blogged about before, oils really don't do a lot for my hair, but I am going to start massaging my scalp to hopefully promote hair growth. I still take my Biotin supplement just about every day, but I sometimes notice that my scalp is itchy or tender in some spots. I am thinking of stopping by Aveda today to get some peppermint or ylang ylang oil for nightly scalp massages. I don't see why I can't incorporate this into my nightly twist regimen. Scalp massages are great for stimulating and getting the blood circulating in your scalp.

Now on to my epic fail - the rod set. I was so hype on Friday about rod setting my hair this weekend. I went to my beauty store and got tons of rods - TONS (on a side note - I stumbled upon a creme gel and leave-in that rival my Miss Jessie's products AND are much cheaper)! So I get home, wash my hair with Wen and deep condition with the Garnier Fructis hair masque (not so hype about this one - I like the Pantene one better) and I start to rod set. So I am doing good and as I am move on to my second row, I go back to feel/check the first row. Low and behold my ends are unraveling, even with the gel on them. Needless to say, I had a mess on my hands. Luckily I only opened 2 packs of rods and took the rest back and got my $20 back. I think I'll stick to the wet/damp 2 strand twists for now and revisit this style later!

I'll post about my new product discoveries soon!

PS - I am still discouraged about styling my hair wet/damp. It's so hard for me, but I sometimes I feel like I am the only person who has awful shrinkage, hair shrinkage that is ;)!!!

No heat for 3 weeks - can I do it?

Okay I am officially awful - I know. So sorry for not posting recently. Life happens and the GMAT sucks, but I digress. I'll post my Aveda straightening regimen soon, I've tweeked it a little bit and added some BioSilk to the mix and get much better results.

So I am going to a wedding Memorial Day weekend and I am getting my hair professionally straightened by hair goddess Nicole at Pure Beauty in DC. You might have remembered me talking about her in a post a while ago - she was the first person to straighten my hair :o). I am dreading the visit because I know she is going to chop a bunch of hair off. I hope I don't cry. I digress (again) - I am trying to avoid heat for the next 3 weeks to save my hair for her blow out. I might try shingling again with the Curly Meringue. I tried with a little piece first, before I set myself up to be pissed.

My hair definitely curls it just shrinks. BOOO! So maybe I'll buck up and wash my hair and try the shingling method all over. I am not really sure. UGH.

UPDATE: Below are pictures of my hair right after the Curl Meringue (it's still drying). I guess we will see how my hair holds up after a work out tomorrow morning. Stay tuned..
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First Update of 2009!

Hey lovelies!  I am sitting here watching American Idol and with Giovanna (1 of 2 cats) laying all over me and I thought that I should give you all an update.  My hair is still growing and I am still lovin' it.  I recently touched up my color using Textures & Tones hair color in Cherrywood.  I am going about 6 to 8 weeks between coloring and I haven't noticed any kind of drying.  I did some research last week because I was curious about what hair color naturals were using and diggin.  And as I suspected most naturals love Textures & Tones and a some like Feria.  A lot of people were saying that Feria dried out their hair and some said that Textures & Tones didn't lift their natural hair color enough.  I am going to stick with the Cherrywood color and maybe go lighter this summer (with the help of a stylist); maybe some highlights.  I haven't had any issues with Textures & Tones so I might as well stick with it.

I want to revisit my thoughts regarding Wen.  My aunt literally handed me a bag full of it (she loves QVC) so of course I wasn't going to turn it down.  I have the Fig, Tea Tree and Sweet Almond formulas.  I forgot how much I love the Fig formula!  It really does wonders with ethnic hair.  I may have to suck it up and start forking over the $30 again.  I will definitely keep using the Hair One version of Wen in a pinch, but I might have to give Wen another go.  I just wish I could buy it at a store, because having to pay shipping and handling on top of the $30 is a bit much.

Let's see what else - I am still dry twisting my hair because I love how it looks about 4 days or so.  The picture in this post is 2 days after I did my last dry twist out (please excuse how messy it is - I just took out my bobby pins).

I was thinking about getting my hair straigtened this week for my birthday, but I don't feel like having all that heat on my hair especially since I just colored it. 

So nothing really new is going on with me or my hair.  I haven't gotten the urge yet to try something new and/or drastic, but I have been reading my fave hair blogs and frequenting the forums to see if I read anything that sounds interesting.

Big Hair Envy

I have seen some of the hottest big curly fros this week and I definitely have had big hair envy! Don't get me wrong, I am loving my dry twist outs (which are getting better and better as I do them more), but I want some big hair. So after kickboxing on Wednesday, my twists were not nearly as definied and my curls were trying to make their return. I decided to pull all my hair back and pull the twists apart. I wasn't really feeling it at first, but today I am loving this look! I'll probably wash my hair tonight or tomorrow and do a dry twist out again, just because I don't feel like being creative and do anything else :o).

I think I am going to have to touch up color soon because my roots are already growing out. But the good thing about this color is that dark roots don't look awful next do the auburn/brown color.

I also haven't deep conditioned in a couple weeks. Yes I know, I am being lazy. I'll be sure to do that this weekend too!