Ally's big braidout, and our last minute rush to prepare for swim class.

At about 7pm, Ally was nice enough to let me know that her regular gym class switches over to swimming class. Tomorrow. Her hair was still in the  beaded style I did last week, minus the beads. My plan was to keep them in until Friday night even though they had begun to get a slight bit fuzzy. However, with swim class tomorrow and no time to prepare, I worried what the chlorine and water and showers after would do to her braids. (We could not find her swim cap, or the bottoms to her swimsuit. Really, no time to prepare.) So we decided it best to remove her braids. Here is her awesome braidout:

(In the top picture, she was in her swimsuit. The girl grows so fast, we had to make sure it still fit. Then she changed into jammies. :)

Ally actually loved the braidout so much, she was upset she could not wear her big hair  out to school tomorrow.

Instead, what we decided to do was put her hair in 2 cornrows, super moisturized and conditioned, so she could swim that way. After swim, she will shower, take the braids out, co wash her hair and pony it up until she gets home. Here is how I prepared her braidout for the corn rows:

• First, I parted her hair down the middle, and sprayed one side with a water bottle.
• Next, I sprayed on some "Turn Me Loose" leave-in conditioner by Its Perfectly Natural, and worked it through her hair with my hands.
• Then I added some Shea Moisture's "Curl and Style Milk", and worked that through the same way.
• To seal in all this great moisture, I added It's Perfectly Natural's "Splendid Hair and Body Oil".
• I did the same thing with the other side, and braided. :)

I used a LOT of product in her hair, but I am she is going into some heavily chlorinated water tomorrow unprotected, and I will not be there afterward to make sure her hair is ok. After school, we will wash and deep condition and restyle. We will definitely be more prepared for her next swim class. This child always seems to remember things like this last minute. 

An amazing braidout, some Princess Flair, and a little whipping. :)

When I removed The Princess' braids after a week, I wasn't sure if we would get a nice braidout because the braids had been on the small side. I added no product, I was kindof rough on the braids while taking them out, and it had rained earlier in the day, so I kindof expected a frizzy mess. This, however, is what I got instead:

We are so happy with it! Look at all that texture, that body! LOVE ITTTT!!!!
And now for some Princess Flair:

Then we had some fun. The Princess said her hair was perfect for whipping. So we put on some Willow Smith and she got to it....

When the song was over. The Princess giggled and said. "Mommy, isn't it great? After all that whipping, my hair still looks perfect." Yes it does, baby! :)

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The Princess's braidout

This morning, The Princess's braids were looking a little too frizzy for my liking, so I decided that a nice braidout may be in order for today. Even though it's raining, so by the time she gets home her 'braidout' is more likely to be a 'puff out'. But we love big hair in this house, so all is well either way. :)

Can I just tell you how much I really LOVE this kid?!

Ally's Boxbraids got a new look!

Ok, so I am very easily excited, what's wrong with that? Especially when my child's hair has never gracefully kept a hairstyle for more than a week and a half, and we are more than 2 weeks into a mini box braids style, and I am CERTAIN that I just bought myself another week with them...and Ally gets a completely new look! Plenty of reason for excitement there, right?
We went from this:

To this:

 

Here is what I did:

Ally's braids were already unravelling, her curls tend to dominate and take over any hairstyle. So I co-washed her hair with Herbal Essence's Hello Hydration, and squeezed out any excess water. Then I used Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie to get rid of any extra frizz. I started section by section, spreading the smoothie from root to end. Then I took about a quarter-sized dallop of the stuff and rubbed it over the top of her head, like I would if I were smoothing down a ponytail. I love this smoothie for her box braids, its like a FRIZZ BE GONE!

Next, I went back, and, section by section, unbraided all of her braids about halfway. Welcome back lovely curls! In the front of her head, I has to rebraid a few wayward braids, then I sprayed Organic's 'Nature's Shine' oil for braids all over her head, making sure to lift the braids so it could reach her scalp. Then I sectioned her hair into 4 parts, and cornbraided. (Sorry, no pictures of this.)  I had 2 braids going to the back and one to each side. She slept on her satin pillowcase,and in the morning, I unbraided her hair, fluffed it up a little, added a couple of clips, and voila!

All that body!

All those curls! :)

Ok, so the kid does not look too pleased. But thats because I was toturing her with the camera first thing in the am when she would rather be reading her Twilight books while she waits for her ride to come. But she loved the hair. Honestly. :)