Quick Hair Update: Still In Twists

Hi Everyone! Hope you all are doing well!

I just wanted to give a quick update on my hair. Long story short, it's still in twists with my own hair.

Loose Twists Styles and Regimen - 4C Natural Hair

I've had these twists in my hair for almost two weeks now. I would like to keep them in a little longer, but I really want to do a Henna/Indigo treatment and my hair needs to be loose for that.

I don't do much in terms of styling. I really like to french roll the back of the twists and keep the front pushed to the right side. Because I like that style so much, I jazz it up with some hair jewelry, beads and a shell. I have also been wearing a lot of scarves and "loc socs".

Here is a collage of some of the ways I style the twists.

Loose Twists on 4C Natural Hair

Well, these are more like loose-ish twists
French-rolled in the back and pinned to the side 

Those who have been reading this blog for a while know that I love twists. I faithfully wore twists when I was relaxed, transitioning and newly natural. Wearing twists helped me retain length and thickness, but for some reason I stopped doing them often. I guess I got to the point in my journey where I just enjoyed wearing my hair loose 85% of the time. Because of that(and other factors such as trimming a lot), I haven't gained much length. 

While I'm okay with the current length of my hair, I want to see more. So I have decided to get back to the basics and wear twists religiously. 

I trimmed these set of twists so I can start off fresh, but I plan to cut down on the trimming drastically. An updated twists regimen will be posted shortly. 

Anyway, on to the "loose twists".

Using Vaseline on My Natural Hair?

When I was a little girl, my Mother would braid my hair every week using nothing but grease. My hair was nice, shiny and of course very long. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

3 Things I Haven't Done As a Natural- 4C Natural Hair

1.) Straighten My Hair- Can you believe that the last time I have seen my hair straight was in 2011?! Every year I tell myself that I will straighten my hair in the Fall or Winter, but I never muster the courage or energy to do it. I'm either worried I will get heat damage, too lazy to do it or just feel

Top Knot Bun with Afro - 4C Natural Hair

The top knot bun has been a staple style for many years now. A simple top knot is classic, but there are many different ways to jazz it up. One way to do so is to wear half of your hair up in a bun then leave the rest down. This is nothing new, right? But how often do you see it with a fro? In my opinion, not often.  I typically see it on stretched hair(braid/twist out, blow dried, etc), straight hair or wavy hair. Because of that, I didn't think I could pull off the style because I prefer my shrunken natural hair. Well that was until I tried it.

Typically when I travel, I like to switch up my hair. So when I went to St. Lucia, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try the Top Knot with a Fro. 

Here's how it came out: 

A Day in the Life of My Natural Hair (Picture Heavy)

Okay, so I had twists in my hair from Monday-Sunday. On Sunday AM, I looked in the mirror(at my raggedy twists) and didn't like what I saw. I looked a hot mess and thought to myself, "life is too short to feel ugly." So, I took them out Sunday Morning.

This is what transpired after the twists removal.
*Keep in mind that my hair is oily and weighed down which is why it looks so thin.*

 

Directly after removing twists.

Random Hair Pics

Happy Sunday!

I just wanted to share some random pics of my hair from this year. I am 1 year fully natural as of March 8, 2014 :-) This is mainly how I wear my hair during the weekdays and on weekends. I also threw in some "trials" as well. 

Yes, I know I have the same pose and smile in most of the pics. Try to overlook that and focus on the hair, lol. 

Friday- Removed braids I had it all week 

Vacationing With the Fro - 4C Natural Hair

Hey Y'all! Hope everyone is doing fabulous!

I recently went to Vegas to celebrate my birthday and surprisingly, caring for my hair was super easy.

These are the only things I needed:

I Made APL and HOTD

Happy Sunday! 

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!

This weekend I decided to wear my hair out and when randomly pulling a piece of hair down, I realized it touched my arm pits! To say I was surprised is an understatement. Now, only the back portion of my hair is full APL, but I'm okay with that. I prefer a layered look anyway. The front of my hair goes below my chin and the sides are past collar-bone. I will do an official length check when I reach one year natural. Just to note, my hair DOES NOT grow the average 6 inches a year. I retained about 10-10.5 inches of growth in 2 years and grew 6-7 inches(of natural growth) when transitioning for 16 months. 

So, as a brief recap of where I started at 16 months post relaxer: 

Twists to a Braid-Out

When I first went back to natural, I hated the way braid and twist-outs looked on me. I stuck to the same ol' puff and kept it moving. Now that I have a little more length, I have been experimenting with more "down" styles. For now, I am going to try more braid-outs, twist-outs and bantu-knots.

Later on in the year I am going to stop being lazy and use my flexi-rods, perm-rods, rollers and even my caruso rollers. I'm not about wasting my money, so I will most definitely put those curlers to use. 

On to my hair: 

Missing the FRO!

I have had these twists in for 4 weeks now and I miss my fro although I typically wear it in a puff.  I will most definitely keep the twists in for another 2-3 weeks despite the fact that I miss my hair.

Week 4 update will be posted next week.  

6 Months Post BC Length Check and Comparison

Hey hey hey! Hope everyone is doing well. I apologize for my unannounced hiatus, but I just haven't been in the blogging mood.
I just wanted to come on here real quick to document my hair progress thus far.

I am a little over 22 months post relaxer and 6 months post big chop.

These length check photos were taken in March 13, 2013(the left) and September 8, 2013.

My FRO is Back !!!!

Y'all don't know how much I missed my hair. Having braids was a nice break, but taking them out was the best feeling ever.
I had them in for a total of 6 weeks although I planned to keep them in for 8. Oh well, 6 weeks is good enough.
When I removed them, my hair was so moisturized. I don't know if it was the braid spray or the shea-butter I used when braiding, but my hair was SOFT!

Single Strand Knots

Image Source 

I know you all have either heard of or experienced them throughout this hair journey.

Those were one of my biggest fears about being fully natural, but to my pleasant surprise, I have not seen/felt/found not one single strand knot in my hair.

I believe it has a lot to do with my hair care practices and because of my thick/coarse strands. But mostly because of my hair care practices which I will highlight in this post.

So, what is a SSK? It’s basically what the above picture illustrates. When a strand of hair tangles within itself forming a knot in the hair. Us kinky, curly, coily girls are very prone to them. There are some ways you can avoid them, but for some, they can be inevitable. I do not believe  SSK’s can make or break your hair’s health and length goals. But having a BUNCH of them can cause some issues.

Here are some tips to minimize them.

Random Hair Pics

Hey Hey Hey!

First, I want to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. 

I just wanted to come by and share some more random hair pics.

I think I may finally put in some single braids with added hair soon. I've been getting that itch since I love me some braids. 

Anyway..on to the pics. 

Trials

 

I tried 3 new things this past week that I wanted to share with you.

 

1.) Went to work with Dookie Braids

My Natural Hair Regimen

Hey Hey Hey! 

I apologize for the lack of blog posts this past week, I've been traveling for work and couldn't muster up any energy to get on here. 

Anyway..I have been fully natural for 6 weeks and finally figured out a regimen that works best for me. 

I believe it’s very simple and conducive to my lifestyle while helping me retain length and limit manipulation.

I’m going to do this differently... which will show you what I do with my hair week by week.

Wash Night- The Final Result

I know, I know...another puff?!?! Well, if y'all read my last post and saw the trial styles..you should understand why I am sticking to this for now. 

If you follow me on Twitter(which you should!), you would have seen my tweet about not caring about curl definition. I really don't, which explains this puff. I like my hair this way and chances of me TRYING to define my curls are very slim. 

If I do make posts about it, it will be for y'all only... to show "how to do it". 

Length Check: 15.75 Months Post Relaxer

Hey Ladies! 

I said I wasn't going to focus on length and I won't. I decided to do a length check to remember where I started later on down the line. Also, when transitioning, I would watch so many length check videos to have an idea of where my hair might be after X amount of months. I know we all have different growth rates and body shapes, but it still helped me. 

So...here it is.