Cute protective hairstyle for tweens/teens/adults natural hair.

 I just realized it's been awhile since I posted any hairstyles. (Shame on me, right?) My girls are participating in a protective hairstyle challenge over at KandyLandKurls, (One of my favorite blogs for children's hair, check it out if you haven't already) so for the next several weeks I will be giving you some (hopefully) great protective style ideas for all 3 of the major curly hair types.

Ally's protective hairstyle for this week is simple and super protective, because the ends are hidden in a bun. Finding styles that Ally likes has been difficult recently. She has been asking to wear her hair 'out' a lot, but as hard as she tries, she does not know how to properly care for her super curly hair (and I just don't have the time to do it every day), so after a few days of being out, her hair ends up dry and extremely tangled. (Main reason I was so grateful for this protective style challenge; her hair REALLY needs a styling break. And I bribed her with the possibility of winning stuff. Don't judge me, lol) Small braids and elaborate styles are totally out of the question right now; Ally does not like the attention she gets when her hair is SO different and beautiful and everyone loves it and stops her to compliment her on it. She says she does not want her hair to make a statement. So we have been keepin' it simple as of late. Here is this week's style:

Y'all know Venus. Lol, she was just getting some love. :)

Ally's hair type is 3B, but I think this style is great for any type of hair. It is so easy to do, and that is part of the reason I love it so much. I just did eight large corn rows. (You can style them however you'd like. Flat twists may also work here.) At the bottom, 2 cornrows are paired together and become 1 braid. So there are 8 corn rows on top, but only 4 braids on the bottom:

Eight cornrows become four large braids.

Here is what it looks like up close:



The merging of two braids into one. This doesn't have to look perfect for this style, its all going into a bun anyways. :)

Then I combined those 4 braids into a big 4 strand flat braid:

And I wrapped that baby around itself, tucked the ends inside, and pinned it into a bun:

And thats it! Ally will  sleep on her satin cap, and we will moisturize her scalp and braids as needed (daily or every other day) with Shea Moisture's Organic Shea Butter Reconstructive Elixer.

Here is a breakdown of the products I used:

• Selsun Blue shampoo(Ally has crazy dandruff as of late. I think her eczema has spread to her scalp. She has an appt coming up with her dermatologist, I will keep you all updated)
• Herbal Essense's Hello Hydration Conditioner (Completely rinsed out)
• My moisturizing spritz (distilled water with some of melted coconut oil and a wee bit of the Hello Hydration mixed in) Isprayed this liberally on her hair, all over, while it was still wet.
• Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie On each piece of hair that I sectioned, before I cornrowed.
• Kinky Curly's Curling Custard on top of the SM Smoothie, to provide extra hold and help seal that moisture in.

I love protective hairstyles because you can really layer the moisture. I am careful not to be too heavy handed with the products, her hair should still be PLENTY moisturized next weekend when we take her hair out to wash it.

Thats all for now, I hope everyone enjoys their Sundays!