Natural Hair and Green Smoothies

Natural Hair this week: The Braid Out vs. The Rollerset 

Health Kick!

For the new year, I am trying to (hint: trying to) change my diet. I am exchanging fried and breaded chicken for grilled chicken. White rice for whole grain rice. Regular Pasta for Multi Grain Pasta. And also trying to drink 36 oz. of water per day. I know this is half of the required amount. But I've come a long way. 0 oz. of water was the norm for me...

Another regular addition to my diet is vegetables. Previously, I would occasionally eat vegetables maybe two or three times a week. I'm bumping it up now. And when I can't steam them or boil them, I'm throwing them in my smoothie!

Currently I am using the Yoplait triple berry smoothie packs and blending in 10-15 leaves of fresh spinach. Yum!

Zoya Polish

Megan

Avery

I am pretty excited! I have been hearing a lot about this polish. Luckily, I caught a (somewhat) freebie. The company had a promotion for two free polishes. I only had to pay for the shipping and handling. I ordered Avery and Megan from the 2011 Winter collection. The neutral look is so fab to me. I will be sure to post a review with pictures as soon as I try them out.

Rollerset, Part Deux

Second time's a charm (in 2012...not mentioning the other failed experience in 2011).

This time I tried the magnetic rollers. This is my second time experimenting with these rollers. Let me tell you about the frustration, increased heart rate, and the incessant thoughts of quitting that enter my head each and every time I try to use these rollers. But I didn't give up!

I found that the more I rolled, the better I became. My problem is just getting the rollers tight. But I am going to continue to work on this. I used the mohawk method, which is shown in the video below. (This video was a huuuuge help!)

Roller setting method with magnetic rollers:

• Washed with Suave Clarifying Shampoo.
• Conditioned with Herbal Essences Conditioner.

• Sectioned hair into three columns (Mohawk style)
• Rolled hair on a 45 degree angle going upwards, pulling taut while rolling up toward the roots

• Blow dried hair for one hour to make sure it was completely dry
• Flat Ironed roots with heat protectant 

And without further ado...pictures! (I apologize for the tired face in the pictures.)

Fresh out the rollers

Combed into place

Flat Ironed Roots

Placed on 4 flexirods over night

Voila!

Fresh Start To The New Year: Roller Setting Challenge!!

I'm so excited, I have signed up for my first "challenge" as a blogger. (I usually sign up for challenges on longhaircareforum.com.) It's so funny that I stumbled across this one. I have recently become interested in roller setting again and was trying to google the 2012 roller setting challenge on lhcf in hopes of getting some tips and tricks. I stumbled across Longing 4 Length's blog and discovered that she (EbonyCPrincess) was starting a 6 month long challenge. I emailed her and here I am today.

I have already tried two rollersets in the past week. The first set was done on orange and purple flexirods. I wasn't particularly satisfied with the set. It was a bit frizzy in the back and didn't hardly have any *swang*. This is when I began to do some research online and discovered the error in my first set.

1. My hair was not drenched during the process. I learned that the hair has to be very wet when it goes on the rollers.

2. I don't think my hair likes LottaBody setting lotion. I diluted the mess out of this stuff and it still gave me a blah set.

3. I was not rolling correctly on the roots.

4. I took down the rollers before they were completely dry. Big no-no.

Here are some pictures of that set:

Ahhhh! Oh nooo!! Fuzzy hair!

After dusting myself off and trying again with my new techniques, tips, tricks, and magic...here is my current rollerset:

Don't mind the junk in the background...lol

This is my best rollerset to date.

The products I used:
Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in
Kinky Curly Spiral Spritz
Coconut Oil
Water

The only problem I have with this set (I know...I know, I'm such a perfectionist) is that I used orange and red flexi rods and the coils came out a bit too tight for me. They are gradually loosening up but next time I will definitely stick with the purple rollers in the back and orange rollers in the front!