Potective Style: Braided Crown with hidden ends

My babies left me recently to head down south for a family reunion. They were only gone for 4 days, and while I knew they were in good hands with my dad and sister, I was beside myself with worry. My family always jokes with me that my kids come with more instructions than a new swing set (at least I think they're joking), though I can't figure out what the big deal is. Make sure they wear sunscreen. Remind them to brush/floss. Don't let them near water unless someone is DILIGENTLY watching them. No soda. No candy.   No rated R movies. They will try to convince you that they are allowed to watch 'Family Guy', but they are NOT. You know, typical mom stuff. :)

Obviously, one thing I do not want them to have to worry about is hair. So before travelling or overnights away from mommy, I like to make sure the girls' hair is styled and protected. Here is the style that Li'l Bit rocked for the weekend. These pictures were taken 5 days after her hair was styled, and she DID swim without a cap, and she DID sleep without her satin pillowcase, and that IS lint, or grass, or something else in her hair that I did not see until looking at the pictures. But its a cute style, so I thought I'd share anyway:

Starting with freshly washed and conditioned hair, Li'l Bit wore plaited hair for a day to stretch it out. I have found that her hair is easier to braid when it has been stretched somewhat, and I always braid her hair when it is dry. Her hair tends to break when  I braid it while it is wet. 

I parted the hair from ear to ear, but the part was not directly on top of her head, it was back more toward her crown area. Then I began to braid her hair. I freestyled the braids on top, but the ones in the back were braided straight up toward the part. The loose hair (after the cornrowed parts) were braided. Then I started on the left of her head and cornrowed the loose braids toward the center. Then I went to the right side and also braided those to the center. I twisted and tucked and pinned it all under itself until I liked the way it looked. (Did that make sense? I dont know how else to explain it.) I used two bobby pins, and plopped those two cute little clips on top just because she wanted me to. :)

See the hair at the bottom that is left out? I intentionally leave that hair out whenever I am braiding/styling her hair. It is not as long as the rest of her hair, so I am afraid of pulling it. In addition to that, it hurts her if that hair is tugged at all. Since I am more concerned with her comfort and the health of her hair than I am with how it looks, that section is always left out. :)

 

I really like this style, and I am going to try and get another week out of it. :)

Wash n go with side braids

Ally asked me to style her hair this way, and I thought it was too cute not to share. 

Ally has been a travelling li'l lady recently; and after spending two weeks in Illinois with family, stopping home   for a few days before travelling to North Carolina for a family reunion, her hair was in need of some TLC. For the most part, Ally maintains her hair well. She remembers (most of the time) to braid it at night, and moisturizes it daily. But as all of us curly haired girls know, that's not really enough. That's where mommy steps in. :)

I gave her hair a protein treatment with a homemade concoction  I threw together. I used an egg, some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and some honey. I didn't measure anything (except the egg; I used one), so there is no recipe. I thought I used too much honey, because her hair was super sticky while I was applying the guck, but when I rinsed it out her hair was instantly softer and healthier looking. So maybe it was ok. 

I washed her hair using Nubian Heritage's African Black Soap. We have been using this for about 2 months, and we no longer use shampoo in my house. We all have healthier scalps because of it, and it does not dry our hair like shampoos do. 

After cleansing, I did an ACV (apple cider vinegar) rinse, and conditioned with a Tresemme conditioner. I applied Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie throughout her hair, and parted a section of it off for braids. The part is not down the middle of her head, it is more toward the right side because she wanted it to fall in her face somewhat. It is for this reason that I probably would modify this style if I were doing it on the little girls' hair, I like to try and keep their hair out of their faces. 

I used a little bit of Eco Styler Gel for the braids, but the only thing in the rest of her hair is the Curl Enhancing  Smoothie. 

 I used a blow dryer with a diffuser on the medium heat setting to dry her hair about 90%. As you can see, the SM smoothie doesn't do much to define her curls, but it is great for adding moisture and shine. It also prevented her hair from frizzing up too much, and since we were going for the 'effortless' look anyway, we both loved how it came out.

 The plan is to turn this wash and go into a braid out by spritzing with water and braiding it at night. She does have swim lessons tomorrow, so we shall see how that works out. We will try and check back in tomorrow with an update. :)

Fauxhawk style with beads and bangs on natural hair

I can't tell you how many compliments we got on this style. Li'l Bit, of course, was feeling too full of herself with her bangs (which she always loves) and beads (for which she chose the pattern).

The pattern of the beads was blue, blue, blue, star...or something similar. While I worked on the braids, Li'l Bit had the very important responsibility of placing the beads on the beader. 

Ok, so here is hot we did this:
On freshly washed and properly moisturized hair, I made a "V" shaped part in the front of the head, the point of the "V" towards the crown of the head. Because Li'l Bit's hair is short (shoulder length when stretched), braiding the hair into this shape made the perfect length bangs:

I then made a part down the middle of my daughter's head, sort of extending from the point of the "V". I braided from the sides toward the center, but I made the braids in a sort of brick pattern. That is, the braids on the left and right sides of her head did not meet in the middle, they were on slightly different levels. Its hard to see in the pictures, but braiding this way makes the center look 'fuller' and makes it less difficult to see the parts.

Just for fun, on every other braid, I added beads to the cornrows. To do this, I just cornrowed the hair until I was at the point where I wanted the bead to be. Then I stopped braiding, slid the bead on, and continued braiding where I left off.

Because I am afraid of damaging her ends, I always try not to leave beads in Li'l Bit's hair for more than 3 or 4 days at a time. Life happened, and these stayed in for 6 days. When I removed them, (just the ones on the ends) I co-washed her hair and left the braids in for another 4 days before removing the loose braids (not the cornrows) and she rocked a true fauxhawk, with free hair in the middle. It was gorgeous, total rock star status. :) Unfortunately, I did not get around to taking pictures of her hair after I removed the beads. But she loved the entire style, and so did I.

Ally's fauxhawk

Isn't it funny how you can do the same style 50 times, and it will come out looking 43 different ways? Maybe its just me because I freestyle just about everything, but this is especially true when it comes to Ally's favorite style....the faux hawk.

So, here is how I got this style:



 I started on freshly washed, detangled and conditioned hair, after a protein treatment. First, I parted her hair from ear to ear

Next, I began corn braiding the parted portion of her hair and securing them with rubber bands.

Then I parted the remaining hair down the middle.

And I free styled the braids toward the center.

The finished result: Check out that shine! No, that is not just the flash..the protein treatment really did her hair a world of good.

And my tween was not being very cooperative today. Since I didn't want to post a bunch of pictures of her with her faced scrunched up and tongue out, this is the best we got. But she didn't mind taking a picture with her little sister (the dog)



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. :)