Gel and Shea Butter: My New Favorite Combo

Ever find that perfect combo of products for a style that you just want to use again, and again......and again some more? (lol) Well that has been me recently with my twists. I always just used my shea butter mix, which is fire by itself, but my twists never seemed to last more than 2 days with out getting frizzy! And then if I just stuck to my guns and left them in anyways my twist outs were never super defined. Well, I absolutely love using ic fantasia polisher gel for my puffs and wash and go's and it never makes my hair super crunchy. So I decided to try adding it with the shea butter mix on my twists. I just moisturize each section with my whipped shea butter and then add a light coating of the gel. Now this isn't some new found technique. I'm pretty sure there are people who have actually tried this combo before. Matter of fact, I've talked to some of them on twitter (follow me! twitter.com/naturally_flyy). However, I LOVE this combo. As you can see in the pics my twists are tight and my twist outs are defined like no other. Try it! you'll like it!

Hand in Hair Syndrome: Ways To Fight It

Have you ever caught yourself playing in hair? Taking each coil and twirling and stretching it? What about if you have twists or braids? You tend to "search" your hair for any section that feels funny and untwist and twist again. At the end of the week you have a frizzy mess. Well, I am a victim of Hand in Hair Syndrome. No wonder by the end of the week my twists are a big fuzz ball! It's not just the problem of the upkeep of your hair but pulling on it too much can cause breakage. There are ways to fight this. I call them super protective styles because there is no way to damage your natural hair unless you are seriously yanking on them. Extensions. Yes, braids, genie locs, and kinky twists are a few. Even a sew in weave, but be careful not to get your hair braided too tight. My preferred method for a quick fix is wigs, preferably lace front or full lace wigs because they have a natural hair line. I do not suggest gluing or taping it down because of the damage it could do to your hair line if you have an extended hair line. There are many brands that do no require this so do some shopping around if you are interested. The above pics are of a couple of styles that I recently purchased and thoroughly enjoy. Thanks natural hair Barbies and Peace and Blessings...

Join the Challenge My Natural Hair Barbies!!!

I am joining a youtuber's natural hair challenge. Her name is Naturalbells on YT and Bellebells on Twitter. I am extending this challenge for my followers of my blog and for my youtube viewers. Here is her video for the rules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8OZ0yzRBqM

Now, in the video she says to stick to your routine!!! So, here is my routine that I will be sticking to...
First, every other week I will shampoo with black soap and deep condition with my avocado/coconut mix. The other weeks it will be a co-wash. After the wash that will happen every sunday I will spray on some of my coconut oil/veggie glycerin mix for moisture, let that semi-dry, and then twist my hair with my whipped shea butter creme mix. The rest of the week I will rock my twists making sure to moisturize them every day and oil my scalp with my Jamaican black castor oil/coconut oil every other day. When my hair starts to get unbearably frizzy (which usually happens after the 3rd or fourth day) I will wear one of my wigs so that i will suppress my urge to mess in my hair. I do not want to mess in my hair until that Sunday!!! Reason being is that I notice that when my hair gets frizzy those last few days, I'm always taking out the twists instead of waiting. So I basically never stick to my weekly protective style routine. I want to give my hair a chance to rest and grow, reducing the chance of breakage by combing too much or pulling on it too much.
She also mentioned not adding any heat. Well, I'm already reluctant to actually apply heat to my hair. I was talking to this other natural in my area and she had a section of hair that would not return to curly because she straightened it too much. Granted she did do it more than I actually would ( I believe she said every Sunday) but it still shocked me and gave me a new realization of the damages of heat. I did want to straighten my hair, possibly on Valentine's day so we will see...who knows maybe before then. Until next time Barbies! Peace and blessings....

New Protective style: 3 Strand Twists/twist Out

Hey Lovelies! If you are following my on twitter you probably know about my latest protective style: 3 strand twists. I first saw a tutorial a while back from a lady on youtube showing different ways to start locs. Recently her channel was deleted so I searched for another video and found one (click here for the video). Unfortunately I need to purchase a new camcorder so I won't be able to post another live tutorial until after my birthday on August 23rd (a long time, I know!). Anywho, 3 strand twists look and sound difficult to do but they are really not. I did mine fairly small (and with all the breaks I took) I'd say it took a combo of 4 hours to finish. Not that bad, micros take longer than that!

Products: I used my shea butter creme to do the twists. Click here for the recipe. And to take them out I rubbed coconut oil on them to give it a shine. I was thinking that the next time I do a protective style I will add jojoba oil to the coconut oil b/c jojoba is good at smoothing the hair cuticle and eleminating frizz.

How long did the twist last? My issue with the twists is that since I'm a wild sleeper I'd wake up and find a few sticking up but I just fixed that by pinning the front in a style. After a 4 days I took them out.

How long did the twist out last( pic in the top right corner)? The twists out surpisingly lasted for a long time. I ended up washing them out after the 3rd day because of my regimen but I know they would have lasted longer. They didn't frizz easily and the curls still had definition. I just put my hair in four loose ponytails and then put a satin bonnet on at night to preserve them.

Conclusion: I like 3 strand twists, its a better way to elongate your fro as still get that twirl that twists outs give your hair. I felt good rocking just the twists because they reminded me of locs. This is definately the method I will choose when I decide to get locs. when I took the twists out I didn't really like it at first because the curls were so defined! It felt fake. But they had a chance to frizz a little the next day and it looked better to me. Hope this helps! Peace and Blessings.