Friends (How Many Of Us Have Them?)

This past weekend was the bridal shower of one of my closest friends (all these ladies are my closest friends to be exact). Of course all the of the gals came out to celebrate the event. Great food. Great atmosphere. Great conversations. And of course I enjoyed decorating and celebrating the day away.

In looking through my pictures of the event, I realized something of interest. We are finally all natural! Some started the natural transition early on, others later. But finally we are chemical-free. It's great that we can share hair care tips, questions, styles, techniques and even more with each other. And to top it off, everyone is super supportive of each other! 

It all started with Tanya (second person from the left). She convinced me in 2005 to stop relaxing my hair and I haven't picked up a relaxer box since then. Eventually the other ladies caught on. None of us can say that being natural is easy. Sometimes I wake up and wish my hair would hide itself underneath the covers. But it's a journey that we support each other on, which makes it all that much easier.

Do you have any natural friends that keep you focused on your hair journey? Let's  talk about it below!

Summer Style

I have always wanted to achieve a wash n go that would 

a. Look as good dry as it is when it's wet

b. Have definition

c. Allow me to leave my house shamelessly

I think I've found the perfect product combination for my hair to achieve this look.

I have learned to stop being lazy and to apply the product to my hair in sections. My hair is too thick to do anything other than this.

I used Tresemme Naturals, African Pride Oil, and Eco Styler Argan Oil Gel. In sections. And air dried.

This is my hair 12 hours later:

Sherbet Orange and Sunny Afternoons

A day at the park...

One Month Update

A month ago I decided that I would make some adjustments to my daily/weekly hair routines that would hopefully lead to healthier and stronger hair.

I listed these adjustments in this post : In My Bag

• More Deep Conditioning!
• More Protective Styling!
• Bare Minimum Amounts of Heat!
• annnnnnnd
• 'Baggying' my ends at least 5x a week!

Since then...

1. I have Deep Conditioned twice using Aubrey Organics GPB Glycogen Protein Balancing Conditioner and Aubrey Organics HoneySuckle Rose.(I should actually be Deep Conditioning weekly...)
2. I tried a new protective style for one week: Twists. I will be using these again very soon.
3. I haven't used any heat at all.
4. And as for baggying my ends...sigh. I really need to stick to that. Fell off a couple of weeks ago. BUT I have been sealing my ends nightly!!

One thing that I have learned during this time is to listen to my hair and what it needs. My hair has different textures. The top of my hair is wavy and the back has more of a coily curly thing going on. And the sides are a distinct mixture of the two. I have found that the back of my hair doesn't seem to retain length as well as the top and sides. The ends of my hair in the back quickly become dry and raggedy (dare I say). I have been making sure to heavily (in terms of comparison) seal this part of my hair. And I have noticed some growth, though I haven't done an official length check. And I have also noticed that it looks and feels better than before. So on that note ladies, definitely listen to what your hair is telling you and adjust accordingly!

Have any of you learned anything about your hair that has helped with your hair health and growth? Share below!!!

Twisted

As a new fan of twist outs, I have been thinking about the idea of wearing twists in my hair. I have seen other naturalistas rocking twists and have always wanted to try them on my hair.

Two summers ago I tried twists. They lasted for about an hour before I unraveled them and moved on.

On Tuesday I tried twists again. I made them smaller. Didn't worry about parting my hair to make the parts neat (the only part that I worried about was my side part...). I love the results. I've been playing with a couple of hairstyles as well.

How I did I achieve this look?

• Started with freshly co-washed and finger detangled hair.
• Applied Lacio Lacio leave in to my hair in sections.
• Applied Shea Moisture Curl and Style Conditioning Milk and African Pride Oil to each section
• Twisted my hair and sealed my ends with Jane Carter's Nourish and Shine

I'm currently on day four. I might be redoing the front of my hair because it's getting a bit frizzy. But this works as a great protective style!

Day 1

Tucked into a bun

Day 3

Side Swept

Half up, Half down

Any other twisters out there have any great styling tips to share for the two strand twists?

Happy twisting everyone!