Holiday Hair

In the last seven days, I have actually styled my hair more than once!


Last week's wash day resulted in a wash and go, which I happily wore for about 3 days. At night, I'd simply band it in 2 - 3 ponytails to stretch it a little bit...and then dampen it in the morning so it would shrink nicely.
 I would have worn it for a longer period of time but I wanted to have something a little bit..fancy for the holidays.

The whole 'holiday hair' thing.

Spot the renegade, over stretched section.

 So I cowashed on Wednesday, and put my plaits in. 

I twisted the plaits in a flat twist manner to make this quick updo while I went shopping.

 The next day, I took the completely dry plaits out. Egads....

Fluff! Separate a little but fluff until you can fluff no more!

Hallelujah, I had a style! A braid out, if you will, my good  wo)man.

 That night, high on styling success, I used a spray bottle of water, Shea Decadence Mango Lassi Leave in, a tinchy amount of shea butter and some aloe vera gel to set my hair into twists.

My goodness, my hair was not happy. You have to remember, I didn't use a leave in, so I had a bit (a lot) of small s-curl breakage from my furiously undernourished ends. I gave up using the spray bottle about halfway through as it seemed to be causing more shrinkage, and more tangling and more breakage, Bleurgh.

Note to self: Big twists and twist outs are not a protective style for you!

I had three twists on each side, with the roots flat twisted.
I twisted my ends on tiny perm rods and then pinned them up onto the back of my head.

 

 

In the morning, I was not feeling hopeful. Had I been hung by own own petard?!?

I took out the first perm rod and it stubbornly refused to come out, so I was sweating bricks before I'd even properly started.

When I did take it out, I got this:

Why is my hair at odds and right angles to itself??
 The second perm rod also refused to come out. I worked out the trick by the fourth one - unravel the way you put it on. Which would be great, except I'd seemingly used different methods for all of them.

Still not that excited at this point.

 Then I started taking out the twists. When I finished I was dead pleased and chuffed and more than feeling myself a little (please refer to aforementioned gif for estimated levels of mirror preening).

By the end of the day, my hair had started to frizz and lose definition, which confirmed something for me - my fine hair cannot really hold a curl other than its own for that long without frizz. Maintaining it would involve fair too much manipulation.

At night, I simply tied it up in two ponytails and went to bed. Eaaaasy.

Kudos to Hair Bloggers/Vloggers who do tutorials on the regular. You're all as resilient as anything. 

I couldn't do this in the long haul!

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Wash and Go in the Winter

Remember when I said I was craving wash and go hair? Well, that feeling has not gone away at all - maybe it's my mental refusal to let go of summer? Or maybe because I got so used wearing the style (and having it dry in under an hour)?

But I thought, no, I'll be good and wear my hair stretched this season. Wash and go hair in winter is just asking to turn into an icicle or catching pneumonia, or something equally ridiculous as that life choice.

Well, I stumbled across this video today and it inspired me to rethink wearing wash and go hair in the cooler seasons up here in the Northern Hemisphere.



Her hair came out beautifully and it sparked my memory of something similar - you know, the infamous Naptural85 'Winter Wash and Go'? My texture is closer to Whitney's (Naptural85's) than it is to Tasha's (pashtash's), so I think the resemblance would definitely lean that way.

But two different women having done something so similar successfully (and Whitney has helpfully made a video detailing how she maintains this style for 5 days after) makes me think that it might be possible.

From what I've seen, it's clean hair + moisture + medium sized twists + finger detangling + gentle separating/fluffing = awesome hair.

What's not to love?

And hallelujah for my fine strands, it's low manipulation.

Let's see how my luck turns out with this twist out that's not a twist out....Maybe the paradox will save me?

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Deep Treatment Day

I don't really think of my 'conditioner-only' wash days as co-wash, or wash days. I think of them as more as days to inject ssome much needed moisture into my hair.

Which, after nearly two weeks, was kinda parched.

1) I pre-pooed with Coconut Oil during the day, but when it came to the act of washing and stuff, it felt like it had all absorbed. So I slathered on some more and then went blog reading for an hour.

2) After that, I heaped on some Aubrey Organics Glycogen Protein Balancing in Lavender and Ylang ylang, in an effort to make up for the fact I'd been wearing my hair exposed in a ponytail all week and had forgotten/neglected to do anything to it in the meanwhile. I left it on for about 30 minutes.

3) I rinsed it out, using the stream of the water to separate my hair into four twisted sections. Then I squirted a diluted mix of Apple Cider Vinegar all over my scalp. Then I applied Herbal Essences Hello Hydration to each section and let it rest while I massaged the Apple Cider Vinegar into my head.

4) After 5 minutes, I rinsed out the Cider Vinegar and the Herbal Essences Conditioner with warm water, detangling gently with my fingers as we went. I noticed that, for ten days worth, my shedding was a lot less than normal *jaw drops*. Maybe the tea rinse worked?! Definitely have to incorporate it next time I pop my head under the shower stream!

5) I spritzed on a generous aloe vera juice, and then got on with Curlformering. Each twist section was massaged with an amount that covered my nail of Anita Grant's Creamy Café Latte Coconut Berry Body Butter, and then a squirt of Organix Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum.
This time, it only took me an hour. Maybe the practise from last time helped me.
That or the fact it was close to 10:30pm on a Friday night and I was not sleeping with these things in.

6) I put on the Curlformer Soft Bonnet Hood that The Littlest Sister and The Younger Bro had bought me for my birthday last year and kept it on for about 45 minutes.

7) Finally, after 11pm, I removed the Curlformers and started twisting the curls with Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel. A couple were still puffy, but were adequately stretched for my purposes. I pinned the finished twists to my head, to avoid them splaying as they do in a ponytail, which just makes the set look weird.

8) In the morning, I put a small amount of coconut oil and wheatgerm oil (trying to use it up) over the twists to give them shine and make them smell nice. Then, I removed everything. It looked a bit stringy, having been done on a fresh Curlformer set (last time, it was a day and a half old, so it had more volume) so I separated the twists apart, in the knowledge that it probably wouldn't survive another night.

Freshly unravelled...

..and then separated.

That's it! I'm elated by the smaller amount of shedding (thank you Jeni from JustGrowAlready!) and will definitely be implementing tea rinses more often into my hair care.
Oh, and I will not be doing my hair so late in the night again....

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Wash Day

My wash days are, once again, falling into a routine and making a kind of sense to me. Because I dislike doing the hokey cokey in (out, in, out) the shower, I'm more likely to deep condition before I wash. So  guess I was wrong when I said I don't deep condition. I do, just not the same as everyone else. I have quite a few other personal rules when it comes to my hair routine, but this one only recently dawned on me, haha!

1. Pre-pooed with Vatika oil overnight.

2. I'd forgotten to section my hair in before leaping into the shower, so I roughly split it into five twisted sections before I shampooed. Shampooed with Schwarzkopf Gliss Hair Repair Ultimate Colour Shampoo with Liquid Keratin, focusing on my scalp. It had been a little itchy over the last week, in small,  annoying bouts so I made sure to massage my head tenderly.

3. I detangled each section with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration and my fingers under the running water, then I added some more conditioner and moved on to the next section. Since two of the twists was too big for themselves and kept unravelling, I had to separate them into two smaller twists. I left in the conditioner while I washed.

4. I rinsed out the conditioner and wrapped my head in an old T-shirt for about 35 minutes. It was mostly dry by the end of this time (about 80%?).

5. Then I applied the Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream as my leave in, along with some Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment to seal in moisture. 

And that was it for the wash day!


I left my hair in the 8 twists for a couple of days, and released it for twist out. I was a bit nervous at first, since at first, it started out looking like this....

Time to look for my hair band perhaps? Nope. It turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself :), haha! )

I only took one reasonable photo, because it was Sunday and I was laaate. As usual. Hope you all had lovely weekends! 

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My Twist and Curl......former set

So, during the Christmas holidays, I chanced upon pure, unadulterated hair gold. 

For me, at least.

I was bored and simultaneously feeling extremely inspired to play with an idea I'd had for a while now. I'd always wanted to try a twist-and-curl, but I don't own any rods or rollers (any more) and was loathe to buy any for a simple experiment.

I parted my hair off into six sections (I got the number from Shelly, who also has quite fine hair like myself) and my fringe and dampened them as I went along with a vinegar water mix, since it was...week 1 of not having washed (a pattern that sadly continued for another 2 weeks). I flat twisted the roots to prevent too much volume there and for increased definition.

Also meant I minimised the amount of handling I had to do on my wet hair. I only twisted until 2 inches of hair were left, to minimalize tangling at my fragile ends. They kept trying to undo, so I ended upholding some of them in place with hair bands/ponytail holders. First time in my life I've ever had to do that!
I also applied Eco-styler gel on the ends of my hair, in the hope they would keep their shape.

 On the fatter twists, I used a curlformer on each twisted section, so some twists had 2 curlformers per twist.

Just to note, this was far nicer and easier to sleep in than when I do my whole head full!

The next morning, I admit, I was holding my breath a little when I took the Curlformers off. 

I shouldn't have worried. Perfect curls, every time, no?

The first unravelling had me a little nervous and unsure, but then I fluffed with my fingers to mess and place it some...

Turns out I still love big hair. After all this time.

Wheeee! Look at me! I'm Curly Nikki!

I'd never really gotten the fuss about the twist and curl until I tried it.
Instantly, my ends didn't look as raggedy. Immediately, it felt so much more fun, and bouncy and lively!
Genuinely, the pictures don't do it justice. I fell in love all over again.

 I loved it so much, I wore it down and out, as it was. And I never do that! And this was despite my woollen scarf and the wind and drizzling rain.....

Yeah. By the end of the day, my hair had gotten so obnoxiously big, I had to tie it up from fear of it being a hazard in the car, and people staring at me... but man, it felt great while it lasted!

For other people's adventures with a twist and curl (and my references, really) check these out:
Curly Nikki's original tutorial here and a small update here.
MahoganyCurls' tutorial here.
Shelli of hairscapades tutorial here.
Shelli also talks about the progression of her T'n'C here.

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A Sunday Wash

- Since I had planned on washing my hair on Saturday, I generously applied coconut oil on Friday night.

- Didn't get up in time, so my house mate used up a lot of the hot water cleaning and informed me that there was about 25 minutes left of hot water, and she hadn't showered yet.

- So on Sunday, I decided to slick some yoghurt on my head as a sort of pre-poo thing too (I had some left over from eating porridge and couldn't bear to put it back in the fridge). My hair was in about 6-8 sections. I left it on for about 20 minutes before rising out with warm water.

- Rinsed with heavily diluted apple cider vinegar (like 9 parts water to 1 part apple cider vinegar) to combat the effects of the hard water, with a few drops of tea tree oil and massaged it into my scalp and hair.

- Gently applied conditioner and finger de-tangled with conditioner in. Left on for about 5 minutes.

- When I got out of the shower, I wrapped my hair in a normal towel, and then added my leave in, as well as some brazil nut oil and some shea butter (why? Why did I do that??) on the ends.

- At this point, I was running late for church and I panicked (maybe that's why I added Shea Butter too...). At first, I considered doing a half up, hlaf down style, but my hair was barely dry. Such impulsive actions would surely come back to bite in the form of tangling during shrinkage and SSKs and breakage. So instead, I split my hair into two vertical sections, twisted each one and then added further stretch with some hair bands (Goody Ouchless), then rolled them under.

The problem was that having applied the shea butter to my ends that were no longer in twists means I ended up with stringy hair that evening when I unravelled everything.. 

So I put my hair in a puff.

I think I need to do what I did for my self-summer challenge and plan what I'm going to do with my hair and how I intend to do it (including stretching time - because my hair very rarely dries fully overnight). I know it sounds like extra effort, but if I don't, I just always end up disappointed with my hairstyle.In two days, In the 24 hours since washing my hair, I've done about 8 styles, because I'm never really happy with them. At the moment, I've got it in twists that I did this morning for a potential twist out on Wednesday, but if that doesn't work, I'm sock bunning it until I can put my hair back up in twists.

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Twistout Experiments

My house sisters had been watching 'My Best Friend's Wedding' staring Julia Roberts.

But this was Julia Roberts before the brunette dye and the hair straighteners.

This was a Julia Roberts that proudly rocked her Celtic/European roots on her head with massive, wild and beautiful abandon.

She was Merida before Merida.

Despite the fact I could barely bring myself to watch her exploits in that film (attempted man snatching is tacky, no matter how charming and honest you try and be about it), the thought of her hair stuck in my head and pushed me into trying out a twistout.

I don't usually try twistouts because my roots look amazing, despite the fact that nobody can see them as high as they are on the top of my graceful Amazonian head; On the other hand, my ends are a straggly, stringy mess, despite the fact it's darn near impossible to hide them.

Me no likey.

What's a girl to do? Apart from rock twists and textured buns?

Why, practise of course!

I decided to be all methodical about it and try it dry, damp and wet with the same products, write down my results. Analyse the results and see how I can modify them to get what I was looking for.

First up: A kind ofdry twistout, done with the usual suspects: Spritzed with water, applied Giovanni direct leave in and some shea butter and coconut oil.

It was set in 10 flat twists, five on each side.

Then pinned.... into a type of labyrinth. 45 minutes to do altogether.

For the take down, I rubbed Castor oil, Coconut oil, 2 drops of Neroli essential oil and 4 drops of peppermint essential oil (for the smell) on my hands and dabbed that on my hair all over, then started unravelling. Took about 7 minutes to take it down.
The left side come out BRILLIANT. I LOVED it  - amazing fullness and definition. The ends were still scraggly, but less noticeable than normal.

The right side - eh >.< I must have stretched it a bit too much because a lot of the definition was lost. Rubbish. But I have my method! My (semi) perfect method that means that doing it on damp or wet hair is now a moot point.

In other news - What in Anne's Green Gables is going on with the shape of my hair!? I pinned the fail of a twistout over to the left, which accentuated how lame it is.

The cut of my hair is getting drastically worse instead of better. The top layer of my hair thinks it is the top bit of a mullet and the bottom layer thinks it is taking part in some inverted bob experiment and yet I constantly pin it as though it has a side shaved off.  Just who do those three chunks of hair think they are? The round, clean well maintained cut I constantly envision in my head is such an illusion. This is what happens when you grab a random chunk of hair in front and call it a fringe - things get confused.

I need to get it cut.

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