Girly Twists & Curls

Just checking In…finally!!

2013-01-03T19:25:00.001-08:00

Hello and Happy New Year errybody!! Just checking in with an update on Skye's hair…finally.

January 2013

As some of you may recall, we have been growing out her texturizer for almost two years now and I am happy to report that she is about 95% natural! As you can see here:

Christmas Day 2012

I straightened her hair yesterday, for the first time in about a year, and I plan to get the rest of the texturized cut off…maybe. Lol. Her hair has grown A LOT over our journey, but since I've been cutting off the texturizer gradually it is still around the same length that it was before. See the comparison below:

January 2012

January 2013

I washed and conditioned with our usual products and banded her hair for about 4 days. In the pic below you can see some of the banded sections, the hair after I removed the bands, and the bottom row that I have already straightened.

To straighten, I used ION Heat Protectant Spray and a super nice CHI flat iron this time around. At night I just put it into 3 loose twists and put her satin bonnet over it, and below are the awesome results:)

4 Weeks of Mini Twists!!

2012-05-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3: Braid out!

Week 4

Protective Style Challenge Week 1: Mini Twists!

2012-05-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I told you guys that we're participating in the Beads, Braids and Beyond Protective Style Challenge and this post is about how I styled her hair this time around. I washed and detangled her hair on Thursday night (4/26), banded the roots, and twisted the rest. This is what her hair looked like when I started styling it on Saturday (4/27):

Here's a closer look at the two different textures that I'm dealing with. I am so proud of all of the new growth coming in and I really can't wait until she's 100% natural!

I initially planned on doing box braids, to try something new...but I didn't like how they were coming out. See below how they're bending and being weird:

So I started over, and still wanting to try something new, I braided her hair about a half inch down then I started twisting. The result is below:

I finished the twists on the Sunday night, finally, and I think that since I braided the roots they will last a little longer so we'll leave them in for about 6 weeks! These pics are from Monday, after school:

I've just been using African Royale Braid Spray (same as I use on my hair) to moisturize daily. And I also use a little Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and coconut oil on her ends every few days, depending on how dry they look/feel.

Part 1: Protective Style Challenge Intro Post - Meets the Participants!

2012-04-28T04:41:00.001-07:00

We (okay, mostly me) are really excited about participating in the Beads, Braids and Beyond protective style challenge for the month of May! I will be trying box braids on Skye's hair for the very first time. I'll post pictures on our blog here, but you can also view Skye and the rest of the adorable participants at the link below!

Part 1: Protective Style Challenge Intro Post - Meets the Participants!

After Easter style!!

2012-04-10T18:31:00.001-07:00

Two posts in one night, this never happens right? Lol, I'm trying to make up for lost time here so I can suck a little less at blogging:)

Since I didn't wash Skye's hair this past weekend, it ended up being really greasy and suffering from a major product overload! I let her wear her Easter style on Monday and then washed it out Monday evening. I used Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curling Control Shampoo to wash and then Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner as a co-wash. I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer and sealed with jojoba oil as a leave in conditioner. I detangled her hair, banding the roots and twisting the rest down to the ends; then I let it air dry overnight. To style this morning, I just made two ponytails in the front and took the twists out and I left the back twisted. It came out pretty cute and it should last for the whole week!

Easter Hurr!!

2012-04-10T17:51:00.002-07:00

So sorry for the lack of posts, I've been adjusting to working full-time and going back to school full time as well. Anywho, I enjoy blogging and I hope to start posting more and more!

We took the mini twists down about two weeks ago, so we kept them for a total of 7 weeks (I think) and they looked like they'd been in for about 3 months, lol. After the mini twists, I put in some flat twists in the front with medium sized twists in the back, and that lasted for about two weeks. I really love the protective styles and we will probably do another one before she gets out of school for the summer. On to the Easter hurr...

I ended up doing a fairly simple style. I removed the medium twists, flat-ironed her hair (a little!) and trimmed her ends, then I put in the flexirod rollers. They make the prettiest little curls! I redid the flat twists in the front so they looked fresh, and used rubberbands to hold them in place. Skye really loved the way her hair turned out!

It's getting pretty tough dealing with the two textures now that she has soooo much new growth. We may consider doing the BIG CHOP in a few months! But then again, as long as I take my time and keep it moisturized maybe I can continue transitioning without the BC. I will definitely keep you guys posted!

Spring Picture Day!!

2012-03-31T12:35:00.001-07:00

So, as you can see here, I did a simple ponytail style with flat twists for Skye's picture day at school. It looked really cute when she left for school in the morning, but I guess she started acting like a 5 year old and her super cute ponytail turned into what you see below. The pictures came out really adorable, but I wish I could've been there to fix her hair!

Before she went to school!

Mini Twists Two Week Update!!

2012-03-05T20:07:00.001-08:00

Hi guys, just doing a quick update to let you know how Skye's mini twists are holding up. This time around, I am only washing them every two weeks instead of every week like I did before. I also put them into five big braids before the shampoo, which I think helped keep them from unravelling. After I washed with the Creme of Nature Argan Oil Shampoo on Sunday, I used a little Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner and rinsed it out after about five minutes. After lightly drying with a towel, I unbraided/rebraided the twists while applying plenty of Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer to each section. I let the braids stay in overnight, and when I took them out this morning we ended up with a really nice, moisturized Braid Out on the Mini Twists!! More pics below, thanks so much for reading!

Mini Twists 2012:)

2012-02-21T07:25:00.001-08:00

Hello all! Since Skye had a four day weekend, I decided to do our first set of mini twists for 2012. On Friday, I washed her hair using Creme of Nature Argan Oil Shampoo. Then I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer as a leave in and banded her hair overnight. Saturday morning I started the mini twists, using Shea Moisture Curl and Style Milk. We took a few breaks throughout the day, and to my surprise we finished Saturday night. Usually it takes a couple of days, but she was a little trooper! I plan to add some coconut oil to the ends to make them curl up a bit more, but I am happy with how it turned out. We'll probably leave them in for at least 4-6 weeks and I will probably wash her hair every two weeks instead of weekly. More photos below, and some close-ups to see how much it has grown! Yay:) Hope you all have a lovely week!

Compare the above photos with the ones below (from 11/26/11) and you can really see the growth (see new growth, where the hair is thicker/healthier)!

Valentine's Hurr:)

2012-02-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

Ignore the huge mess in the background...this was the only pic that showed off her new Skechers!!

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day! Here's a quick post on how Miss Skye wore her hair for her Kindergarten Valentine's Day Party (and for the rest of the week so far)...including a link to where I stole/borrowed the hairstyle from! This style was really easy to do and I think it turned out pretty well. I plan on trying some other 'heart' styles in the near future. Anywho, I rounded up the usual suspects...Bee Mine Curly Butter and Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer. I added a twist/bang to the front and did a twist-out in the back...and here's how it all turned out:

You can really see the new growth vs. texturized hair in the close-ups...can't wait til she's 100% natural, she's at about 30% right now!

Picture Day Hurr:)

2012-02-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hi! Picture day was this past Tuesday and we went with a simple ponytail with flat twists in the front. I initially wanted a twist out in the back but I added some little rollers to the two strand twists and I didn't like the way the curls came out. I ended up just pulling it up into a high ponytail and it came out pretty cute, so she wore it for the whole week! I used Bee Mine Curly Butter on the flat twists, and Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer on the rest of her hair and sealed with coconut oil. It stayed really soft and moisturized for the whole week! I'll post the Spring Pictures as soon as I get them back, hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Here's one with the tiny rollers that made curls I didn't like! I ended up using flexirods to stretch out the curls more...then I braided the curls to get a more wavy look.

Randomness to make up for lack of posts:)

2012-02-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

April 2011: My cousin used a little heat to make this happen, I love it...but as you will see below, flexirods work just as good, if not better!

This set of pics (Jan 2012) shows a little of our night time routine and the outcome the next day!

This face says: "Mommy, please leave me alone so I can go to sleep."

This is what's under the bonnet!

The next day!! (You can see this style in it's entirety here!)

The following pics are from October 2011 and they include a style I got here (and this was also the style Skye wore this past week)

Flower girl swag (people still say swag, right?)

I replaced the white rubber bands with black for school, it matched more of her outfits that way.

And here are a few pics from Sept 2011...Twist-Outs Gone Wild, lol:)

Flat Twists with the wildest Twist Out ever! I adore big hair!

And finally, just the cutest kitty ever on a random day after getting her face painted for no reason other than fun:)

Sept 2011, Flat Twists and Mini Twists

Style for the Week of 1/8/12!!

2012-01-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

After about two or three weeks of wearing her hair out, Skye has finally gone back to a protective style! After I washed her hair, I used Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut conditioner mixed with Jojoba oil and Castor Oil as a leave in...and I didn't love it. I moisturize her hair daily and it still seems much drier than it was with the Kinky Curly Knot Today. So when we wash this week, I'll have to try something different. I bought a few new products yesterday so I'll let you guys know how that works out. Anywho, for this week's style I just put some flat twists with rubberbands in the front and added some medium sized two-strand twists in the back. Well, my goal was to make medium sized twists but some of them still came out pretty small. In fact, I'm pretty sure every twist on her head came out a different size, lol. Hopefully I'll do a much neater job this weekend, but this will do for now! I've added some pics below, and they all include Skye's "Mommy please leave me alone so I can go to school" face! Thanks for reading and I hope you all have an awesome week:)

New Year's Hair!!

2012-01-03T21:05:00.000-08:00

Good evening all! I put some flexirods in Skye's hair (after straightening it in the previous post) and the curls came out so pretty that I wanted to share. As soon she saw herself in the mirror she said, "Oh my gosh, I look like a princess!!" LOL:) So anywho, I put some hair in the front in a little ponytail and left the rest hanging down. I used Bee Mine Curly Butter and Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel to slick down her edges in the front, and I used some flexirods that I bought from the local beauty supply store! I added additional pics below including everything I used for this style. Oh, and I left the flexirods in overnight covered with a satin bonnet. Thanks for reading and I hope 2012 treats you with all the awesomeness that you deserve:)

Straight Hair // Length Check!

2011-12-31T09:29:00.000-08:00

What's the point of two whole weeks out of school if I can't play with my daughter's hair right? Lol. So for fun, for a length check, and because I've never tried it before, I decided to straighten her hair! I washed it and banded it on Thursday and left it banded overnight so it could dry. Here are a couple of pictures:

Then I removed the bands on Friday and flat ironed each section on very low heat. I used a heat protection spray by ion as well as some grapeseed oil to help protect her hair from heat damage. Skye adores her straight hair, I don't think I've ever seen her flip it so much! But I told her that even though her hair looks cute straight, I like her curls better:) I am happy that her ends don't look as scraggly as I thought they would, I'll probably clip them a little bit but not too much...then we'll go back to a protective style next week.

Sorry so blurry, but I wanted to show a close up of the before/after!

I plan to do this again in 6 months in hopes that we will see a lot of growth! Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to you all:)

Christmas Hair!

2011-12-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

Hope everybody had a very merry Christmas, ours was wonderful and filled with love and family...and a few awesome presents:) To avoid washing/styling hair on Christmas Eve, I washed Skye's hair on Friday. I detangled and braided her hair, about 6-8 sections total, then I put on some Nutiva Extra Virgin Coconut Oil as a pre-shampoo treatment. After leaving the coconut oil in for about 30 minutes or so, I washed her hair with Creme of Nature Argon Oil Shampoo (which I love, btw). I find it so much easier to wash her hair while it is braided in sections and it really helps to keep it from tangling back up again. I used our usual leave-in conditioner (Kimmaytube recipe with Knot Today). I also used Bee Mine Curly Butter to style her hair. I absolutely love this stuff but unfortunately it does not play well with Kinky Curly's Knot Today, so I won't be using the Knot Today anymore:( It tends to leave a white residue in her hair, it's not too bad but it bothers me...so now I'm in the market for a new leave in conditioner.

Anyways, about her Christmas hurr (lol)...Using the Bee Mine Curly Butter, I put seven flat twists in the front going to the side (got the idea here) and then I banded the roots of the remaining hair and added two strand twists to each section. Here are a couple of pictures:

Then on Christmas morning, I just unraveled the twists and took out the bands, then added a couple of sparkly clips to right side of her hair:

This twist out has held up pretty well over the last couple of days since she sleeps in a satin bonnet. I'll probably do something similar for New Years/Back to School next week and then we'll go back to a protective style (probably mini twists again) for 4-6 weeks. As always, thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas Everybody!!

2011-12-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you all and thanks for reading our blog! I'll make a new post about her holiday style (pictured below) on Monday:)

And for fun, here's a throwback pic from 2006!

Mini Twists are OUT // Banded Twist Out!

2011-12-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! Spent all day Sunday taking down the mini twists, detangling, washing, and banding hair! Fun times as always:) After I finished taking the twists down, I detangled in sections and added coconut oil as a pre wash treatment. I braided each section (about 5 braids total) so that her hair wouldn't tangle back up. After the shampoo, and with her hair still braided, I added some Hair Mayo by Organic Root Stimulator as a protein treatment. I left that on for about 15-20 minutes and then rinsed it out. Then I added our usual leave in conditioner (the Kimmaytube recipe we've been using) and sealed with Shea Butter. Usually I just band her new growth towards the top, but this time I banded each twisted ponytail all the way down to stretch it so we could see a little more length. This was my first time doing this and I must say that I love how the bands made the twist out look a bit more wavy in addition to showing her length! I just removed the bands, seperated the twists, then I put one ponytail at the top and left the rest hanging down. Pictures below! And as always, thank you so much for reading!

Mini Twists - Four Week Update!

2011-12-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little update on Skye's mini twists! We have made it to week four and I am planning to take the twists out at the end of the week. I'm sure they could last a couple more weeks but I want to do something different since we'll probably be doing our Christmas pictures next week. (SN: Yes, we always wait til the last minute and I usually make my own greeting cards at Wal-Mart and pass them out at Christmas dinner instead of mail them. Don't judge me, lol:))

So anyways, I skipped Skye's weekly wash this past weekend (due mostly to laziness on my part) and instead re-upped on the moisturizer. I added some Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Conditioning Milk all over her hair and then sealed with a little Sweet Almond Oil. I re-did the flat twists in the front and used a little Bee Mine Curly Butter to lay her edges down. I put about five big braids in her hair and left them in overnight to get some waves/curls going. Below are a couple of pictures that I snapped this morning before school. And as always, thanks for reading!

The Science of Black Hair: A Comprehensive Guide to Textured Hair Care by Audrey Davis-Sivasothy – Review

2011-12-12T06:27:00.000-08:00

I heard about this book through one of the many hair blogs that I frequent and I couldn't wait to read it because it was so highly recommended! I ordered it through Amazon.com for my Kindle app and it was only $9.99, but I’m sure that I’ll purchase a hard copy later for my personal library.

The book begins with a couple of stories that sound a lot like my own, women speaking of growing up with hair that never quite seemed to grow past shoulder length and thinking that was the norm for our kind of hair. Until I BC’d in Oct 2011, I had had a relaxer since I was five years old. Even though I had to get touch ups every four to six weeks, I could never retain length. I really enjoyed reading these stories as I found them extremely relatable to my own personal hair journey!

I read most of the book (at least 95%), but unfortunately I have the attention span of a gnat and I had to skim over a lot of the technical jargon about hair follicle structure and cuticles and what not. But I’m glad that the information is there as I’m sure I will reread this a few more times so that the information sinks in. I have already implemented some new things into my daughter’s hair care regimen as well as my own, such as protein treatments and deep conditioning moisture treatments. I find it very helpful that the book teaches you how to start a healthy hair care regimen and the author even includes a product list! I also like that there is supportive information for those of us with natural, relaxed, and color treated hair. I would totally recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about how to properly care for their hair or their child’s hair!

Mini Twists - Three Week Update!

2011-12-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! We're actually around three and a half weeks right now...though it feels like it's been forever. On Sunday, I washed Skye's hair and then did a braid out on the mini twists. I followed our usual routine, but I also added in a protein treatment using Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise. After I rinsed out the mayo treatment (which left her hair feeling really soft btw), I added her leave-in conditioner and put four big braids in (two in the front and two in the back). Monday night, I decided to put some flat twists in the front since the mini twists in that section are still unraveling quite a bit. Ever since I received my Bee Mine Curly Butter (ordered on Black Friday) I've been really anxious to use it, so I tried it on the flat twists and I absolutely love it. It smells amazing, and it really took away all of the frizziness and helped the flat twists look a lot neater. Here are a couple of pictures that I took yesterday before she went to school. The flat twists aren't perfect but they'll do, and I really like how crinkly/curly the braid out turned out!

Mini Twists - Two Week Update!

2011-11-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving week! Just a quick update on Skye's mini twists. They have now been in for two weeks and even though they are still holding up pretty well, I have noticed a difference in her hair since she has more new growth. As you may know, since April we've been transitioning from a texturizer to natural hair. Now that her natural hair is longer I find that after her weekly shampoo, the texturized ends seem to be unraveling more than they had previously with mini twists. I do plan to continue washing her hair weekly while the mini twists are in so this is just something we'll have to deal with. Luckily, only a small few of the twists in the front are having this issue so I just retwisted them and everything was fine. Below are some close up pictures of the twists that unraveled a bit, and you can also see her new growth:

I am going to start measuring her new growth so I can see how much progress we're making! So on the next post I will include some measurements and continue to measure each month. I also need to post our routine, I've been meaning to do that! Here are a couple of pictures of what I'm calling her Thanksgiving style (lol):

After shampoo/leave-in, I put the mini twists into four big twists and left them in for a few days which made the ends a lot curlier. I achieved the look above by twisting two sections in the front and connecting them in the back with a cute bow. I'm saving up for a new camera so I promise the pictures will get better:) Thanks for reading!!

Mini Twists - One Week Update!

2011-11-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

Hi all and happy Friday! Just a little update on Skye's Mini Twists before I do her weekly wash tomorrow. Tuesday night, I put a little Nutiva Extra Virgin Coconut Oil on her ends and it worked wonders!! As you can see in the pictures below, her ends look so much healthier compared to how scraggly they looked after I first finished her twists.

The first two pictures are before using the coconut oil, the second two were taken today (a couple days after using the coconut oil)

The products I used on her hair this week are pictured below! I only used the coconut oil once this week (on Tuesday) and I only put it on her ends. I used the Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel a couple of days this week to make her edges lay down in the front. And finally, I sprayed her hair with the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Hold & Shine Moisture Mist every other day.

Today I styled her twists with an ouchless ponytail holder for a little ponytail at the top with the rest hanging down, and topped it off with a pretty black headband with a flower on the side! I bought the headband at Family Dollar of course, for only $2!!

Mini Twists

2011-11-13T18:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Just wanted to update you on how Skye's teeny, tiny mini twists came out. I made them a bit smaller than I usually do in hopes that they will last at least six weeks. As you may know from Friday's post, I washed and banded her hair on Thursday and put in a leave-in conditioner (Kimmaytube's recipe). I started on Friday night, using a little Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Conditioning Milk on each twist. It took about two hours on Friday, then four hours on Saturday, and five more on Sunday...with long breaks here and there of course. Her ends were a little scraggly and frizzy so I had to spray them with water to get them to curl up some. Usually her hair curls up a lot more after the first shampoo with the twists in, so the ends will probably look curlier after I wash her hair on Saturday. I think I'll look into some deep conditioners or protein treatments or something to help her ends because they always tend to look kind of frizzy and dry. Anywho, I posted pictures below of the twists and some close-ups of her ends after I clipped them. Thanks for reading!!

Banded Twists

2011-11-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

Since I plan on putting mini twists back in Skye's hair this weekend, I decided to wash her hair Thursday night instead of our usual shampoo day on Saturday. I washed her hair with Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Control Shampoo and I used Kimmaytube's Leave-In Conditioner recipe for a nice leave-in. I detangled her hair, banded and twisted it, then clipped her ends a bit. Here is the banded style that she wore to school today! I don't usually do styles that look like kid styles, so she really liked this one...and she loves patterns so the purple and yellow ponytail holders made her smile:)