Some Hair Essentials

I know that I have been missing for a while and I am going to try to do better but I have been working on getting some other projects off the ground (more on that later).

Let's talk hair... Well, more like natural hair to be exact. Starting out I wish that someone had told me about some of these items and how effective using them can be

Spray bottle with water
This will never get old. Natural hair needs and craves moisture especially when you live in hot and humid temperatures that can be found here in the Virgin Islands. Hair looking and feeling a little dry? Spray that water gurl!!! While you are at it how about drinking 1 or 2 glasses of crisp, clean aqua.

Also you can place some of your favorite essential oils in with your water. This leads me to the second point...

Hair Oils
Do not underestimate the moisturizing power of hair oils. Now I am not saying take a bottle of EVOO and just pour it all over your head (but it would make a good hot oil treatment) but you can mix it in with your water to provide your hair with moisture and a slight sheen. When using oils in your hair I would recommend that you use more water than oils because you only need one or two drops of oil in your spray bottle  and because no one and I mean NO ONE wants their hair to be leaving oil slicks on furniture pieces.

Twist out- Done using my water and oil mix

Shampoo
While I am not totally against shampoos I do believe that if you are going to use it then that bad boy needs to be sulfate free. Our natural hair does not need to be stripped of its hard won moisture so if after you've washed your and hair it damn near "squeaks" to say it's clean STOP.

Unless you have been using a ton of products and your hair feels laden down DO NOT over clean your strands. On a regular the clean feeling comes from having a clean scalp. So make sure your scalp is clean and let your product of choice and the water pressure help to cleanse away the sweat and build up that may be present.

Silk or Satin Scarf or Pillowcase
Now I must say I am very familiar with this because it was also an essential when my hair was chemically straightened. Our hair can snag and get caught in fabrics when we sleep. Also regular pillow cases soak up all our hair's oil and product that we took so bloody long to put on.

Hair Flowers
Trust me when you have a TWA and that bad boy looking "blah..." Hair flowers help to brighten up your face while draw attention to your hair and its texture. Also when you are misting your hair with your spray bottle a little water will help that flower look more realistic ;-)

I will try and split the Hair Essentials list into 2 or 3 parts. I hope that this little mini series helps others that are a bit overwhelmed and may need help finding a starting point for their hair essentials.

Hopefully while reading you understand my sense of humor. Let me know if there is anything you would like me to talk about.

New Weelky hairstyle

Hey all there is a new weekly hairstyle on the hairstyle page.

Want to learn how this was achieved?

Check it out here.

Freshly washed Hair

So here is my hair looking all nice and freshly washed last week.

So the Bentonite clay really did help to make my curls pop :D. Believe it or not this look was achieved by doing an hot oil treatment (Vatika oil) and a plastic bag on chunky twists. Then in the shower I rinsed out and used WEN on my hair with the twists still in and rinsed out when I was finished with my shower and this was the result and no snags or detangling needed.

Bentonite Clay

/hihi

I know that I have been missing on the scene lately but I will get back to that in another post. Trust me though I have missed my personal blog. I have been gone for so long that I even forgot what I had been doing with my hair lately /no.

So today is about my Bentonite clay hair detox. Yep I said it hair detox. For anyone that does not know I don't care for shampoos and they have never cared for me /nobigdeal... so I see this as a mutual relationship. So on to the process and mix. Well, I didn't use spoons to measure so... long story short I just grabbed crap and made it work.

Step 1: Did an apple cider vinegar rinse with olive oil. Put a plastic bag on my head and went back to sleep.

Step 2: Rinse out and clear out with fingers.

Step 3: Mix Bentonite clay with 2 tsp. of honey, 2 tsp. of an oil of your choice (used vatika) and add water as necessary. Please do not mix in a metal bowl or use a metal spoon.

Step 4: Apply to hair. Personally I tend to work it through slightly with my fingers and leave in for about 30 - 40 min or when it starts to get a bit dried (but not too dry /please).

Look at that bad boy popping in the back

I'm hoping that as my hair grows the front will "learn" to do something besides stick up.

Step 5: Rinse out with warm water until water runs clear and then condition to get out all of the clay bits. To condition I used Alikay Naturals Honey and Sage Deep Conditioner & Caribbean Coconut Milk Conditioner. Yep I figure if they work well separately... why not combine them???

Step 6: Rinse out and look at those curls pop./wahaha

Curls baby curls

Did I mention that I wash my hair in the shower... Now you know

Coming along nicely

I will see if I can find a picture of my hair during my last wash for a comparison. Until next time. /bye

Yarn Braids Maintenance

/hihi
Since my scalp seems to be so sensitive to tugging, I try to oil/grease it at least once a day and if I will do ponytails I aim for a loose one. Also I like to use Africa's Best braid spay mixed with some Infusium leave in treatment on the braids where my hair is to keep them moisturized.

Why am I telling you this? Well you see at around 4:00 am this morning I woke up because of an awful headache. Because I was busy yesterday morning I styled my braids without doing my routine and scalp massage and when I finished work I was so tired beacause I had a fever. But at 4:00 am this morning my scalp said, "Enough!!"

So I had to go haul my mucus dripping butt out of my bed to oil my scalp, do the scalp massage and spray. Now how do I know that it was the missing of my routine that caused this evil headache... Once I finished my regimen and put on my cap within 5 minutes the headache stopped and I went back to la la land. The moral of this story is Take the time to do what you need to for yourself  or your will pay for it later.

Until later (... or whenever I get over this fever) /bye

Yarn Braids

So, I am trying a new style. Right now I am rocking yarn braids and I am enjoying it even though it was my first attempt braiding.

Click here for pictures.

In all honesty it was not as hard as I thought it would be but my biggest problem was getting the yarn to stay with the hair (LOL). Let's just say it was a learning experience that I may or may not try to do again. Thinking of doing a short tutorial but I figure that so many people already have videos up on it and there isn't a need put one up personally.

Black Onyx has some nice videos:
Part 1

Part 2

Check out MsVCharles for styles:

So check it out and try it and see how it looks on you because so far I am loving the break from my hair even though it took me forever and a day. Normally though braids only last about 1-3 weeks in my hair either because they just start to fall out or I can't take the pulling and tightness (Yep, my scalp is extra sensitive). I loved that I could determine my tightness by doing it myself. More to come on this style and I may even post some better pictures for the second attempt.
/bye

Been missing

Yep I am baaaccckkkk!!!

Been missing for a minute since I have had alot of things going on in my life. But I will be updating in the hairstyles section and I need to hook you up with my favorite shea butter mix review.

Check back.