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.

Braided Fauxhawk on natural hair...great for little girls/teens/adults!

Hi! :) Back with another style I picked up on Pinterest. I'm starting to feel kindof guilty, like I need to be a little more creative and get back to creating my own styles again. The last style I did on Ally, and Li'l Bit, were both from Pinterest. And the now The Princess is wearing a copycat style as well. But I had been in a styling rut for awhile, so at least some hair is getting done, right!?

Side note: See the laundry basket at the top of the stairs? Its calling me. I'm ignoring it. :)

The fauxhawk part....I had a very difficult time trying to figure out what to do with this part. I'd try something, but after half an hour or so realize I didn't like it, so try something else. Her hair is so thin and fine, its very difficult to get a roll or twist of any sort to stick. I'm actually not so sure I like this either, but it survived the night unscathed, so its a go, at least for now. :)

See that small child? Someone should tell her mother to do her hair. ;)

I like this because it is versatile; you can finish the middle in a variety of ways. (As a matter of fact, I am going to try the same style on Li'l Bit, and hers will be finished quite differently.) I promised The Princess that  toward the end of the week, I would take out the roll and she could rock her fauxhawk wild and free, 'rock star style', as she put it.  I like that the braids are small, so it should last a significant amount of time. I like that it didn't take long to finish, maybe about an hour? I like that she loves it. :)

Here is the style I was attempting to copy:

I just love this!

Source: naturallymeashley.tumblr.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Crossover cornrows with beads on short, natural hair

It's been awhile since I have posted actual hairstyles; mainly because we have been doing simple pigtails and such. Ally has been caring for her own hair (post coming soon), The Princess has been rocking pigtails and simple braided styles. Li'l Bit has really been sticking with afro puffs (which I love). and an all out afro...surprisingly, her favorite style as of late. As a matter of fact, this is what happened last week when she tried to 'make her own afro':

Yep, that comb is stuck in her head. I mean, wrapped around and twisted and all up IN there. :(

I did manage to get that comb out of there without too much damage, and without cutting it at all, but can you believe her hair was in twists before this happened? She woke up, took her hair cap off, and combed out her twists with that very small comb that had no business being used in her hair. So, after that, I made a deal with her: she could rock a 'fro every day if she wanted, but mommy would be the one to comb it out, and we would twist it every night and take it down every day. This satisfied her. :)

This week, she came to me with a bag of beads and the rat tail comb. Subtle, this child is not. But you have to love a girl who knows what she wants. So after co washing her hair with Herbal Essence's Hello Hydration conditioner (we co wash, rinse out completely, then apply more conditioner, and rinse out a little more than half of it. Then I blast her hair with a shot of cold-ish water to seal in the moisture.), here is the style I came out with:

Guess who those fingers belong to? lol.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get clear pictures of the back, (she barely stood still for these 3) but there are just 2 rows of braids going straight down her head. I used Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie for moisture and Kinky Curly's Curling Custard for hold. I am hoping to keep these in for 2 weeks, probably removing the beads after 4 or 5 days. Unfortunately, she has already lost quite a few beads; I am so afraid of damaging her ends I only wrap the rubber bands around 5 or 6 times. With braids this small, that's apparently not enough. And those snappy things just do not stay in her hair at all. Does anyone else have that problem?

I am working in reverse; tomorrow I will post the twisted  style she wore 2 weeks ago. Happy St Patrick's day everyone!!

Freestyle Beaded hairstyle...not sure I like it.

You have probably noticed that we do not do a lot of beaded styles in my home. I used to, then I realized the damage that beads do to those sensitive ends, so not we limit beaded styles for right before trims only. The ends are dead and about to be cut off anyway, so I figure they will do the least damage at this time. If you remember from the quick and easy corn row style The Princess sported over Christmas break, I noted that it is time for a trim. With that in mind, we decided that she will rock beads this week. I freestyled the style, (as usual) and this is what we ended up with:

The bottom half of this style consists of two rows of straight corn rows, braided down and beaded. The top half?! Not sure I like it. That's what happens sometimes when you freestyle; you never know what you are going to get, and sometimes its great, sometimes not so great. The Princess likes her hair, so I guess that's what really matters. It's not that I HATE it, I'm just not so sure. But its in, its done, we won't have to fuss with her hair for the week, so its staying. :) (Oh, and please excuse the dried pancake batter on my child's shirt. She helped make breakfast this morning, and somehow that happened. And somehow the camera picked it up when I did not notice it. I hate when that happens. )

Of course, hair was washed and conditioned before braiding. I used It's Perfectly Natural's Basil and Lemongrass Coil Glaze for hold.

Have you ever freestyled braids, or any hair style, and didn't like the results?

Just another quick and easy 10 minute hairstyle

OK, so this syle was driven by both necessity and YOU. I was running late, and I have received several requests for more 10 minute styles. So here you are:

Those corn rows on the bottom? Ouch. But I told you, we were rushing. And as wrong as it may seem, sometimes I think if I add enough accessories, I can make ANY style look decent enough for a day. (Or two.) And because this style was partly driven by request, I feel the need to add a disclaimer. Of course, whether or not this is trully a 10 minute hairstyle for you and your child depends on the state of your child's hair when you begin styling, and the texture and thickness of your child's hair. This would NOT be a 10 minute haistyle on Li's Bit right now, mainly because her current hair state is a bit sad. (She has been ill for about a week, so her hair has taken the back burner.) And I have looked at all of our previous 10 minute hairstyles and I noticed that they have ALL been done on The Princess. So I promise to come up with some 10 minute hairstyles for my other 2 girls as well....so you can see easy styles on other hair types.

The only things I needed for this style were:

• Water
• A comb
• Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie
• Barettes and a princess hairholder.

I hope you all enjoy this style. And please feel free to send me more requests, I love them! :)

Happy Friday!

Quick and easy corn rowed hairstyle

Happy New Year! I have had4 kids in my house on vacation from school all week, so hair has been simple and quick. I wanted to share this cute hairstyle that The Princess rocked most of last week:

This hairstyle began with clean hair, and I used Shea Moisture's Curl and Style Milk as a leave-in. I used a very small amount of Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie for hold as well.

First, I separated the hair into 3 sections. The top two sections are larger than the lower section. I'm not sure you can see the size difference in the picture below, though.

 Each of the top two sections was braided into two large braids and secured with ouchless bands. Then I separated the bottom section into two sections.

Both of the smaller sections of hair on the bottom were braided, (not corn rowed) and pulled into the ponies with the rest of the hair.





I added pretties, which were switched daily to match The Princess's outfits. This style took about 15minutes to create and it lasted (gracefully) for about 4 days, but it was in for about a week. (Hey, it's vacation...don't judge me. :) )

Now, looking back at these pictures, I see that The Princess is LONG overdue for a trim. Yes, that is on my to do list....but I am thinking I will give her beads for a week first, seeing as though her ends are damaged and soon to be cut anyway. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and vacations! We are back to school tomorrow. (Do the happy dance. )

10 minute hairstyle: Cornrows into a side pony

Yesterday morning was one of those mornings in my house. You know, one of THOSE mornings. The dog ate the scrambled eggs, Li'l Bit couldn't seem to keep pants on, Ally missed the bus, and The Princess couldn't find the perfect hair bow to match her leg warmers. (Yes, that little detail nearly sent her into COMPLETE breakdown mode. Thank you, Asperger's.) So in the midst of all this craziness, hair still needed to be done. Here is the quick and easy 10 minute hairstyle that The Princess rocked today:

The bow problem? Solved, thanks to our handy dandy Bowsnappers! (In my Blue's Clue's voice, of course.) I gave The Princess complete access to our Bowsnappers drawer, (yes, they have a drawer to themselves) and she created this bow. No, it does not match her legwarmers, but she made it, so it was good enough for her. And it stopped a breakdown in it's tracks,  and that's good enough for me!

The rest of our day, thankfully, went a lot more smoothly. And this hairstyle still looked great this morning; all I had to do was redo the ponytail and she was on her way.

Reader inspired style: 'cornrowed side ponies with fauxhawk bottom'

This style was inspired by a hairstyle that a reader did on her daughter's hair. She was inspired by this style I did on Li'l Bit, and I was inspired by her style. :)

I think I would call this a 'cornrowed side ponies with fauxhawk bottom' style. (whew! These hairstyle names can get kindof wordy, huh?!) The style that inspired me was done with beads, but I decided to make it a little more of a protective style for Li'l Bit's head, so I eliminated the beads, and rolled the braids into mini Bantu knots to hide and protect the ends. I secured the bantu knots with bobby pins, I am going to look for some mini ones today so they don't show as much.

Products used:

Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer as a leave-in.

Its Perfectly Natural's Coil Glaze for hold. (This stuff is the bizness. If you haven't tried it, I suggest you do!)

Bobby Pins

That's all!

I think the style is pretty self explanatory, but a few pointers I think are useful when trying this style:

• For the top half to end up ponytailable, the trick is in the parting. Start your parts off wide and narrow them toward a focal point. They should all meet at this point. That way, you can pony it up....or Bantu knot it, like we did this time. :)
• The braids in the fauxhawk do not lie directly across from each other. I was trying to figure out how to explain how I arranged them, but I thought it would be easier to just show you:

 

Or something like that. I think you get the idea. The reason I made them diagonal like that is because  I think it is easier to twist the braids into bantu knots when they on top of each other versus being side by side.  I just took 2 braids at a time and bantu knotted them, adding pins for hold because Li'l Bit's hair is so short it would have just unravelled right away.

I love this style, and Li'l Bit did too. Especially when she stuck a huge purple flower clip on top of her head. Sadly, no pictures of that. But you can probably imagine that it looked.....very unique. :)

I hope you enjoyed reading this. This hairstyle was inspired by a picture that a reader posted on our Facebook wall. We love imitating styles, and putting our own spin on them. If you have a style that you would like to share, send us an email, or post it to our wall. We love hearing from you!

Repurposed style: Half braidout on short Type 4 hair.

I love when a style starts out looking one way, then you can make a few changes and the style looks completely different.A short while ago, I wrote a review on The Pomade Shop's Growth Essentials Rosemary Pomade, and I raved about the amazing braidout it gave us on The Princess's hair. I was curious to see what kind of braid out we would get on Li'l Bit's hair. Here is the style we started with:

I started by rubbing some olive oil into my fingers. I always try not to manipulate Li'l Bit's hair with dry hands, dry hands would take much needed moisture away from her hair. Then I began carefully unbraiding her hair, starting with the braids on the bottom of her head and working my way up. I did not manipulate the hair after unbraiding it, and I did not unbraid the top two braids on each side. I added a headband and this is the finished product:

I love the definition we got from the braid out:

Once again, another great braid out using our new Pomade from The Pomade Shop. I can't wait to try this on Ally's hair once we are done with box braids. 

I just love how much Li't Bit's hair has grown since we have switched over to using products with all natural ingredients. :)

I hope your Sundays are full of smiles and laughter! 

Meet Monae

Meet my niece, "Monae", and ALL of her hair. She is 5 years old, and just the sweetest thing. :) On Thanksgiving, I offered to wash and style Monae's hair, mainly because I wanted to try out my new products from "It's Perfectly Natural" on her, but also because I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with her lately, and I enjoy the closeness that hair time brings.

Monae has kinky, 4b-ish  hair, and her mom isn't really sure of how to care for it properly. She gets Dominican blow-outs once every month or two, and Monae got her last 'texturizer' about 6 months ago. When I was stying her hair on Thanksgiving, I was shocked to see how damaged and straight, her hair is, even after being washed. :( Her naturally kinky hair is now as straight as The Princess's, and it looks damaged, lifeless, and has absolutely no body or texture left in it. When I washed her hair, Monae was raving about how well her hair was 'laying' down, and how beautiful it is because it is so straight. Her mom has raised her thus far to believe that straight hair is better, and if her hair doesn't lay down, it isn't pretty.

So I spoke to her mom, and told her that if she promisedto lay off the heat and chemicals,  I would style her hair on a regular basis and deal with the upkeep and maintenance that it requires. Honestly, my primary goal is to instill some confidence in this child, and teach her that her hair is beautiful exactly as it grows out of her head. She has about 6 months of new growth (and her hair grows FAST) and I would love for her to embrace her thick, coily, poofy locks once that texturizer grows out and I manage to convince her mom to do a BC.

On Friday, Monae was dropped off at my house, hair still in the style I did on her hair last week:

I think it held up pretty nicely, having been in there for a week and a day. :) So I took the braids out of her hair, and was left with this:

I just love that sweet face. (Please don't mind the horrible pictures. I really need a better camera. Flash on, Flash off.) (:

Honestly I am a bit on over my head with this. I have NEVER dealt with relaxed hair, and I am a bit intimidated by her natural hair texture. It is easy to see why some moms take the easy way out and just relax it, especially with the thickness of her hair. While I was washing it, it was a struggle just to make sure the shampoo reached her scalp. (I saw a tip online once to put the shampoo and conditioner in an applicator bottle that you would use for hair dye, so I will try that next week.) But I am determined to develop a better understanding of how to properly care for her hair, and t help her mom do the same.

So I washed Monae's hair, conditioned it, and rinsed about 70% of the conditioner out. Then I took a wide-toothed comb and tried to distribute the remaining conditioner through her hair as evenly as possible. Then I added It's Perfectly Natural's hair and body oil to seal in that moisture, and I added Bee Mine's hair butter on top of the oil. Looking for help on how to condition her hair, I followed the routine I saw here on Precious Curls-Celebrate Your Natural Hair. If you are looking for advice on how to properly moisturize your kinky hair, I suggest reading that article. It works on my 3C hair, too.

Then I braided. I applied some of Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie for additional hold, as needed. And I decided on a simple style that will last the week with grace. (Maybe even 2 weeks, if her mom gets er a sleeping cap, but we shall see.)

I think it came out nice, and we both had a LOT of fun. We talked, we watched Kung Fu Panda, (Anyone know why the Panda Bear's dad is a duck?) and took 3 breaks before it was all done. I LOVE braiding her hair, it is thicker than any of my girls, and because of it's texture, it hold styles very well. I am now on the lookout for cool braided styles to try on her hair, since box braids and twists are really out of the question because her ends are so straight, they just unravel immediately.

I hope you all enjoyed meeting my niece, you will be seeing much more of her and her hair in the weeks to come. If anyone has any advice and tips on how to deal with transitioning hair on a 5 year old, please, I am all ears Happy Sunday!